IL-receptor like molecules and uses thereof

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides for IL-17 receptor like polypeptides and nucleic acid molecules encoding the same. The invention also provides vectors, host cells, agonists and antagonists (including selective binding agents), and methods for producing IL-17 receptor like polypeptides. Also provided for are methods for treatment, diagnosis, amelioration, or prevention of diseases with IL-17 receptor like polypeptides.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/810,927, filed Mar. 16, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,094,566, whichclaims priority from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/723,232 filedNov. 27, 2000 which claims priority from U.S. provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 60/189,923 filed Mar. 16, 2000 and U.S. provisionalapplication Ser. No. 60/204,208 filed May 12, 2000. U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/810,927 also claims priority from U.S.provisional application No. 60/266,159 filed Feb. 2, 2001 and of U.S.provisional application No. 60/213,125 filed Jun. 22, 2000. All of theabove-identified applications are incorporated herein by reference intheir entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to novel IL-17 receptor like polypeptidesand nucleic acid molecules encoding the same. The invention also relatesto vectors, host cells, pharmaceutical compositions, selective bindingagents and methods for producing IL-17 receptor like polypeptides. Alsoprovided for are methods for the diagnosis, treatment, amelioration,and/or prevention of diseases associated with IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Technical advances in the identification, cloning, expression andmanipulation of nucleic acid molecules have greatly accelerated thediscovery of novel therapeutics based upon deciphering the human genome.Rapid nucleic acid sequencing techniques can now generate sequenceinformation at unprecedented rates and, coupled with computationalanalyses, allow the assembly of overlapping sequences into partial andentire genomes and the identification of polypeptide-encoding regions. Acomparison of a predicted amino acid sequence against a databasecompilation of known amino acid sequences can allow one to determine theextent of homology to previously identified sequences and/or structurallandmarks. The cloning and expression of a polypeptide-encoding regionof a nucleic acid molecule provides a polypeptide product for structuraland functional analyses. The manipulation of nucleic acid molecules andencoded polypeptides to create variants and derivatives thereof mayconfer advantageous properties on a product for use as a therapeutic.

In spite of the significant technical advances in genome research overthe past decade, the potential for the development of novel therapeuticsbased on the human genome is still largely unrealized. Many genesencoding potentially beneficial polypeptide therapeutics, or thoseencoding polypeptides, which may act as “targets” for therapeuticmolecules, have still not been identified. In addition, structural andfunctional analyses of polypeptide products from many genes have notbeen undertaken.

Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to identify novelpolypeptides and nucleic acid molecules encoding the same, which havediagnostic or therapeutic benefit.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to novel IL-17 receptor like nucleic acidmolecules and encoded polypeptides.

The invention provides for an isolated nucleic acid molecule comprisinga nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of:

(a) the nucleotide sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ IDNO:4, or SEQ ID NO:6, including combinations thereof;

(b) a nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide as set forth in anyof SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof;

(c) a nucleotide sequence which hybridizes under moderately or highlystringent conditions to the complement of (a) or, (b), wherein thepolypeptide encoded by the nucleotide sequence has an activity of thepolypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ IDNO:7, including combinations thereof; and

(d) a nucleotide sequence complementary to any of (a)-(c).

The invention also provides for an isolated nucleic acid moleculecomprising a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of:

(a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide that is at least about70, 75, 80, 85, 90, 95, 96, 97, 98, or 99 percent identical to thepolypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ IDNO:7, including combinations thereof, wherein the polypeptide has anactivity of the polypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ IDNO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof;

(b) a nucleotide sequence encoding an allelic variant or splice variantof the nucleotide sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ IDNO:4, or SEQ ID NO:6, including combinations thereof, wherein theencoded polypeptide has an activity of the polypeptide as set forth inany of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof;

(c) a nucleotide sequence of any of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ IDNO:6, including combinations thereof; (a), or (b) encoding a polypeptidefragment of at least about 25 amino acid residues, wherein thepolypeptide has an activity of the polypeptide as set forth in any ofSEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof;

(d) a nucleotide sequence of any of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ IDNO:6, including combinations thereof; or (a)-(d) comprising a fragmentof at least about 16 nucleotides;

(e) a nucleotide sequence which hybridizes under moderately or highlystringent conditions to the complement of any of (a)-(d), wherein thepolypeptide encoded by the nucleotide sequence has an activity of thepolypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ IDNO:7, including combinations thereof; and

(f) a nucleotide sequence complementary to any of (a)-(e).

The invention further provides for an isolated nucleic acid moleculecomprising a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of:

(a) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide as set forth in any ofSEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof, with at least one conservative amino acid substitution, whereinthe polypeptide has an activity of the polypeptide as set forth in anyof SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof;

(b) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide as set forth in any ofSEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof, with at least one amino acid insertion, wherein the polypeptidehas an activity of the polypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2,SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof;

(c) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide as set forth in any ofSEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof, with at least one amino acid deletion, wherein the polypeptidehas an activity of the polypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2,SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof;

(d) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide as set forth in any ofSEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof, which has a C- and/or N-terminal truncation, wherein thepolypeptide has an activity of the polypeptide as set forth in any ofSEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof;

(e) a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide as set forth in any ofSEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof, with at least one modification selected from the groupconsisting of amino acid substitutions, amino acid insertions, aminoacid deletions, C-terminal truncation, and N-terminal truncation,wherein the polypeptide has an activity of the polypeptide as set forthin any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, includingcombinations thereof;

(f) a nucleotide sequence of (a)-(e) comprising a fragment of at leastabout 16 nucleotides;

(g) a nucleotide sequence which hybridizes under moderately or highlystringent conditions to the complement of any of (a)-(f), wherein thepolypeptide encoded by the nucleotide sequence has an activity of thepolypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ IDNO:7, including combinations thereof; and

(h) a nucleotide sequence complementary to any of (a)-(e).

The invention also provides for an isolated polypeptide comprising theamino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of:

(a) an amino acid sequence for an ortholog of any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ IDNO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof, wherein theencoded polypeptide has an activity of the polypeptide as set forth inany of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof;

(b) an amino acid sequence that is at least about 70, 80, 85, 90, 95,96, 97, 98, or 99 percent identical to the amino acid sequence of any ofSEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof, wherein the polypeptide has an activity of the polypeptide asset forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, includingcombinations thereof;

(c) a fragment of the amino acid sequence set forth in any of SEQ IDNO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations' thereof,comprising at least about 25 amino acid residues, wherein thepolypeptide has an activity of the polypeptide as set forth in any ofSEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof;

(d) an amino acid sequence for an allelic variant or splice variant ofeither the amino acid sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof, or at least oneof (a)-(b) wherein the polypeptide has an activity of the polypeptide asset forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, includingcombinations thereof.

The invention further provides for an isolated polypeptide comprisingthe amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of:

(a) the amino acid sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ IDNO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof, with at least oneconservative amino acid substitution, wherein the polypeptide has anactivity of the polypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ IDNO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof;

(b) the amino acid sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID. NO:2, SEQ IDNO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof, with at least oneamino acid insertion, wherein the polypeptide has an activity of thepolypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ IDNO:7, including combinations thereof;

(c) the amino acid sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ IDNO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof with at least oneamino acid deletion, wherein the polypeptide has an activity of thepolypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ IDNO:7, including combinations thereof;

(d) the amino acid sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ IDNO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof, which has a C-and/or N-terminal truncation, wherein the polypeptide has an activity ofthe polypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQID NO:7, including combinations thereof; and

(e) the amino acid sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ IDNO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof, with at least onemodification selected from the group consisting of amino acidsubstitutions, amino acid insertions, amino acid deletions, C-terminaltruncation, and N-terminal truncation, wherein the polypeptide has anactivity of the polypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ IDNO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof.

Also provided are fusion polypeptides comprising the amino-acidsequences of (a)-(e) above.

The present invention also provides for an expression vector comprisingthe isolated nucleic acid molecules as set forth herein, recombinanthost cells comprising recombinant nucleic acid molecules as set forthherein, and a method of producing an IL-17 receptor like polypeptidecomprising culturing the host cells and optionally isolating thepolypeptide so produced. These expression vectors include baculovirusexpression vectors which utilize insect cells for expression.

The host cells of the present invention also include those comprising aIL-17 receptor nucleic acid molecule operatively linked to a regulatorysequence other than the promoter of the native IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide. These host cells also include those modified bytransformation or transfection with a heterologous nucleic acid,including promoters and transcription factors, that promotestranscription or translation of the nucleic acid comprising the sequenceof SEQ ID NO: 1, 4, or 6 or a allelic variant or fragment thereof.

Vectors containing the cDNA inserts corresponding to SEQ ID NOS: 1, 4and 6 (denoted IL-17RB-2, IL-17RB-3 and IL-17RB1 respectively) have beendeposited on Mar. 14, 2001 with the American Type Culture Collection,10801 University Blvd., Manassas, Va. 20110, U.S.A. under Accession Nos.PTA-3176, PTA-3177 and PTA-3175, respectively). Included in the presentinvention are isolated polynucleotides comprising the protein coding ormature protein coding regions of the respective cDNA inserts, as well asmature protein or extracellular domains thereof obtainable by expressingcDNA in suitable host cells.

A transgenic non-human animal comprising a nucleic acid moleculeencoding an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide is also encompassed by theinvention. The IL-17 receptor like nucleic acid molecules are introducedinto the animal in a manner that allows expression and increased levelsof the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, which may include increasedcirculating levels. The transgenic non-human animal is preferably amammal. Also provided is a transgenic non-human animal comprising adisruption in the nucleic acid molecule encoding IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, which will knock out or significantly decrease expressionif the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide.

Also provided are derivatives of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptides ofthe present invention.

Analogs of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptides are provided for in thepresent invention which result from conservative and/or non-conservativeamino acids substitutions of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptides of SEQID NO: 2, 5 or 7. Such analogs include an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide wherein, for example the amino acid at position 167 of SEQID NO: 2, position 225 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or position 50 of SEQ ID No: 7 ismethionine, leucine, isoleucine, or phenylalanine; the amino acid atposition 261 of SEQ ID NO: 2, position 319 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or position144 of SEQ ID NO: 7 is cysteine, serine or alanine; the amino acid atposition 299 of SEQ ID NO: 2, position 357 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or position212 of SEQ ID NO: 7 is leucine, norleucine, glutamine, asparagine,arganine, or 1,4, diamino-butyric Acid; the amino acid at position 313of SEQ ID NO: 2, position 371 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or position 193 of SEQ IDNO: 7 is tryptophan, tyrosine or phenylalanine; the amino acid atposition 413 of SEQ ID NO: 2, position 471 of SEQ ID NO: 5, or position296 of SEQ ID NO: 7 is glycine, proline or alanine; or the amino acid atposition 433 of SEQ ID NO: 2, position 491 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or position313 of SEQ ID NO: 7 is aspartic acid or glutamic acid.

Additionally provided are selective binding agents such as antibodiesand peptides capable of specifically binding the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides of the invention. Such antibodies, polypeptides and smallmolecules may be agonistic or antagonistic. Antagonistic selectivebinding agents include those which inhibit binding of a IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide to an IL-17E ligand (such as the mature protein aminoacid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 23).

Pharmaceutical compositions comprising the nucleotides, polypeptides, orselective binding agents of the present invention and one or morepharmaceutically acceptable formulation agents are also encompassed bythe invention. The pharmaceutical compositions are used to providetherapeutically effective amounts of the nucleotides or polypeptides ofthe present invention. The invention is also directed to methods ofusing the polypeptides, nucleic acid molecules, and selective bindingagents.

The IL-17 receptor like polypeptides and nucleic acid molecules of thepresent invention may be used to treat, prevent, ameliorate, diagnosisand/or detect diseases and disorders, including those recited herein.Expression analysis in biological, cellular or tissue samples suggeststhat IL-17 receptor like polypeptide may play a role in the diagnosisand/or treatment of the pathological conditions described herein. Thisexpression can be detected with a diagnostic agent such as a IL-17receptor like polynucleotide.

The invention encompasses diagnosing a pathological condition or thesusceptibility to a pathological condition in a subject caused by orresulting from abnormal (i.e. increased or decreased) levels of IL-17receptor like polypeptide comprising determining the presence or amountof expression of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide in a sample andcomprising the level of said polypeptide in a biological, tissue orcellular sample, from either normal subjects or the subject at anearlier time, wherein susceptibility to a pathological condition isbased on the presence or amount of expression of the polypeptide

The present invention also provides a method of assaying test moleculesto identify a test molecule which binds to an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide. The method comprises contacting an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide with a test molecule and determining the extent of bindingof the test molecule to the polypeptide. The method further comprisesdetermining whether such test molecules are agonists or antagonists(candidate inhibitors and stimulators) of an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide. The present invention further, provides a method of testingthe impact of molecules on the expression of IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide or on the activity of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide.

The present invention provides for methods of identifying antagonists oragonists of IL-17 receptor like biological activity comprisingcontacting a small molecule compound with IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides and measuring IL-17 receptor like biological activity inthe presence and absence of these small molecules. These small moleculescan be a naturally occurring medicinal compound or derived fromcombinational chemical libraries. In certain embodiments, an IL-17receptor like polypeptide agonist or antagonist may be a protein,peptide, carbohydrate, lipid, or small molecule which interacts with anIL-17 receptor like polypeptide to regulate its activity or inhibitligand binding.

The IL-17 receptor like polypeptide can be used for identifying ligandsthereof. Various forms of “expression cloning” have been used forcloning ligands for receptors. See e.g., Davis et al., Cell,87:1161-1169 (1996). These and other IL-17 receptor like ligand cloningexperiments are described in greater detail herein. Isolation of theIL-17 receptor like ligand(s) allows for the identification ordevelopment of novel agonists and/or antagonists of the IL-17 receptorlike signaling pathway.

One ligand (denoted herein as IL-17E) has been identified herein inExample 8. Its nucleotide and amino acid sequences are set forth in SEQID NOS: 22 and 23, respectively. The cDNA encodes an open reading frameof 161 amino acids with a predicted signal peptide of 16 amino acids anda predicted mature protein of 145 amino acids. Tissue expression data,homology to other IL-17 ligands and phenotypes of transgenic miceoverexpressing IL-17E suggest that this IL-17E ligand (and thus theIL-17 receptor like polypeptides of the present invention which bind toIL-17E) play a role in inflammation, including autoimmune diseases, andin myelopoiesis, particularly in the development, stimulation and/orrecruitment of eosinophils and lymphocytes (especially B-lymphocytes).See U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/266,159 incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety, wherein a IL-17E polypeptide wasidentified to be the ligand for the IL-17 receptor like polypeptidesIL-17RB-2 and IL-17RB-3 (SEQ ID NOS: 2 and 5) of the present invention.

One embodiment of the invention provides for methods of identifyinginhibitors of an interaction of an IL-17 receptor polypeptide with anIL-17E ligand. These methods comprise the steps of detecting binding ofan IL-17 receptor like polypeptide (such as polypeptides comprising themature protein sequence set out in SEQ ID NOS: 2, 5 or 7 or fragments,analogs or variants thereof that retain ligand-binding activity) toIL-17E ligand (such as a polypeptide comprising the mature proteinsequence of SEQ ID NO: 23 or fragments, analogs or variants thereof thatretain receptor-binding activity), in the presence and absence of a testcompound, and identifying the test compound as a candidate inhibitorwhen the binding is decreased in the presence of the compound. Suitabletest compounds include nucleic acid molecules, proteins, peptides,carbohydrates, lipids, organic and inorganic compounds, libraries ofwhich can be screened using known high throughput screening procedures.

The present invention further provides for methods of treating,preventing or ameliorating a pathological condition mediated by IL-17Ecomprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of amolecule which specifically binds to either IL-17E ligand or IL-17receptor like polypeptides of the present invention. The invention alsoprovides for a method of inhibiting undesirable interaction of IL-17receptor like polypeptide with IL-17E ligand comprising administering atherapeutically effective amount of a molecule capable of binding theIL-17 receptor like polypeptide or IL-17E ligand, or a moleculeotherwise capable of inhibiting the interaction between IL-17receptor-like polypeptide with IL-17E ligand. Candidate inhibitorsinclude selective binding agents (including antibodies or derivativesthereof) that are specific for either IL-17E ligand or IL-17 receptorlike polypeptides; analogs, fragments or variants of IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides of the present invention (e.g. that retain ligand-bindingsite(s) of the receptor) and fusion proteins thereof; analogs, fragmentsor variants of IL-17E ligand (e.g. that retain ability to bind receptorwithout transducing a signal) and fusion proteins thereof.

Exemplary IL-17E mediated pathological conditions include but are notlimited to those conditions related to immune system dysfunction,inflammation (including acute or chronic inflammation), and theprogression of cancer. IL-17E polypeptide and polynucleotide may play arole in lymphoma conditions and increased expression of IL-17Epolypeptide or polynucleotide may be indicative of a prelymphoma state.Other conditions involving IL-17E include infection.

The invention also provides for a method of inhibiting undesirableinteraction of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide with IL-17E ligandcomprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of amolecule capable of binding the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide orIL-17E ligand.

Methods of regulating expression and modulating (i.e., increasing ordecreasing) levels or activity of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide arealso encompassed by the invention. One method comprises administering toan animal a nucleic acid molecule encoding an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide. In another method, a nucleic acid molecule comprisingelements that will regulate or modulate the expression of an IL-17receptor like polypeptide may be administered. Conversely, selectivebinding agents or antisense oligonucleotides may be administered totreat, prevent or ameliorate pathological conditions related toincreased levels or activity of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide.Examples of these methods include gene therapy, cell therapy, andanti-sense therapy as further described herein.

Yeast two-hybrid screens have been extensively used to identify andclone receptors for protein ligands. (Chien et al., Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. U.S.A., 88: 9578-9583, 1991). The isolation of a IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide binding partner is useful for identifying or developingnovel agonists and antagonists of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptideactivity. Such agonists and antagonists include but are not limited tosoluble anti-IL-17 receptor like polypeptides (e.g. fragments lackingall or part of the transmembrane and/or cytoplasmic region(s) orfragments of the extracellular region(s) that retain ligand bindingactivity, analogs or variants thereof, and fusions thereof toheterologous polypeptides such as constant domains of an immunoglobulinor fragments or variants thereof that retain the ability to prolonghalf-life in circulation), IL-17 receptor like selective binding agents(such as antibodies and derivatives thereof including chimeric,humanized or human antibodies or fragments thereof that specificallybind to the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide or its ligand-bindingsites), small molecules, peptides or derivatives thereof capable ofbinding IL-17 receptor like polypeptide or its ligand binding site(s) orantisense oligonucleotides (e.g., that specifically bind to IL-17receptor like encoding DNA or RNA or regulatory sequences and inhibitexpression of IL-17 like receptor like polypeptide), any of which can beused for potentially treating one or more diseases or disordersdisclosed, including those recited herein.

The invention further encompasses methods for determine the presence ofIL-17 receptor like nucleic acids in a biological, tissue or cellularsample. These methods comprise the steps of providing a biologicalsample suspected of containing IL-17 receptor like nucleic acids;contacting the biological sample with a diagnostic reagent of thepresent invention under conditions wherein the diagnostic reagent willhybridize with IL-17 receptor like nucleic acids contained in saidbiological sample; detecting hybridization between nucleic acid in thebiological sample and the diagnostic reagent; and comparing the level ofhybridization between the biological sample and diagnostic reagent withthe level of hybridization between a known concentration of IL-17receptor like nucleic acid and the diagnostic reagent. Thepolynucleotide detected in these methods may be an IL-17 receptor likeDNA or and IL-17 receptor like RNA.

The invention also provides for a device which comprises a membranesuitable for implantation in a patient; and cells encapsulated withinsaid membrane, wherein said cells secrete an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide of the invention wherein the membrane is permeable to theprotein product and impermeable to materials detrimental to said cells.The invention further provides for a device which comprises a membranesuitable for implantation and the IL-17 receptor like polypeptideencapsulated in a membrane that is permeable to the polypeptide

The present invention also encompasses diagnostic reagents, includingdetectably labeled polynucleotides encoding the amino acid sequence ofSEQ ID NO: 2, SEQ ID NO: 5 or SEQ ID NO: 7, fragments, variants,homologs thereof. Further, the invention provides for methods ofdetermining the presence of IL-17 receptor like nucleic acids (includingDNA and RNA) in biological, cellular and tissue samples by contactingsaid sample with a diagnostic reagent as described herein that willhybridize with IL-17 receptor like nucleic acid contained in saidsample, detecting said hybridization and comparing the level ofhybridization between the sample and diagnostic reagent with a the levelof hybridization between a known concentration of IL-17 receptor likenucleic acid and the diagnostic reagent.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1A-1B depicts a nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:1) and amino acidsequence (SEQ ID NO:2) of a first human IL-17 receptor like polypeptide.

FIG. 2 depicts homology of a first human IL-17 receptor like polypeptideamino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:2) and a known IL-17 receptor familymember (SEQ ID NO:3).

FIG. 3A-3B depicts a nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:4) and amino acidsequence (SEQ ID NO:5) of a second human IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide.

FIG. 4 depicts homology of a second human IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:5) and a known IL-17 receptorfamily member (SEQ ID NO:3).

FIG. 5A-5B depicts a nucleic acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:6) and amino acidsequence (SEQ ID NO:7) of a third human IL-17 receptor like polypeptide.

FIG. 6 depicts homology of a third human IL-17 receptor like polypeptideamino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:7) and a known IL-17 receptor familymember (SEQ ID NO:3).

FIG. 7 depicts an overlap of amino acid sequences of the first (SEQ IDNO: 2; IL-17RB-2), second (SEQ ID NO: 5; IL-17RB-3), and third (SEQ IDNO: 7) human IL-17 receptor like polypeptides. The underlined sequenceis the predicted transmembrane domain which spans residues 293 to 313 ofSEQ ID NO: 2, residues 351 to 371 of SEQ ID NO: 5 and residues 176 to196 of SEQ ID NO: 7. The predicted signal peptide is in bold which spansresidues 14 of SEQ ID NOS: 2 and 5. Therefore the predictedextra-cellular sequence spans amino acids 14 to 292 of SEQ ID NO: 2 andamino acids 14 to 350 of SEQ ID NO: 5.

FIG. 8 depicts a Northern blot detecting expression of the IL-17 likeoverexpressing transgene in necropsied transgenic founder mice (nos. 1,16, 27, 29, 55, 61, 20, 52, and 66). The control mice (nos. 2, 17, 53and 65) are non-transgenic littermates. The lane marked “bl” is a blanklane and the positive control (+) was the IL-17 like cDNA. The presenceof a 0.54 kb band is indicative of transgene expression.

FIG. 9 depicts a Northern blot detecting expression of the IL-17 likeoverexpressing transgene in hepatectomized transgenic founder mice (nos.10, 11, 30, 31, 33, 37, 46, 67, and 68). The control mice (nos. 32, 35,36 and 45) are non-transgenic littermates. The lane marked “MI”represents the microinjection fragment which was loaded as a positivecontrol. The presence of a 0.54 kb band is indicative of transgeneexpression.

FIG. 10 depicts hematoxylin and eosin (A,B, G-J), B220 (C,D) and F4/80(E,F) stained sections of lymph node (A-H) or bone marrow (I,J) fromIL-17 like transgenic mice (B,D,F,H) or non-transgenic control mice(A,C,E,G). Panels A-F illustrate that the IL-17 like transgenic lymphnode was markedly enlarged with its normal architecture disrupted due toa marked cellular infiltrate (asterisk in panel B) that contained largenumbers of B220 positive B lymphocytes cells (panel D) and some F4/80staining macrophages. Panel H illustrates that this cellular infiltratealso contained numerous eosinophils (arrowheads) as well asmultinucleated inflammatory giant cells (arrows).

FIG. 11 depicts hematoxylin and eosin (A,B; E-I) and B220 (C,D) stainedsections of lymph bone marrow (A,B), spleen (C-F) and kidney (G-J) fromIL-17 like transgenic mice (B,D, F,H,J) or non-transgenic control mice(A,C, E,G,I). Panel A illustrates marked eosinophilic myeloidhyperplasia. Panel D illustrates lymphoid hyperplasia with apredominance of B220 positive B cells (arrows) in the IL-17 liketransgenic mouse spleen, while panel F illustrates eosinophilic myeloidhyperplasia in the IL-17 like transgenic splenic red pulp compared tothe non-transgenic splenic red pulp (E). Panels H and J illustrate renalpelvic dilation (arrow in H) with a marked eosinophilic inflammatoryinfiltration in the renal pelvis (pyelonephritis, panel J).

FIG. 12 depicts a bar chart histogram showing a significant increase inabsolute numbers of CD19+ B lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of 4 outof 9 IL-17 like transgenic mice as compared to the non-trangeniclittermate controls.

FIG. 13 depicts a bar chart histogram showing an increase in absolutenumbers of CD19+ B lymphocytes in the spleens of 5 out of 10 IL-17 liketransgenic mice as compared to the non-transgenic littermate controls.

FIG. 14 depicts a bar chart histogram showing a slight decrease inabsolute numbers of CD19+ B lymphocytes in the bone marrow of IL-17 liketransgenic mice as compared to the non-transgenic littermate controls.

FIG. 15 depicts a bar chart histogram showing an increase in absolutenumbers of CD4+ T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of 4 out 9 IL-17like transgenic mice as compared to the non-transgenic littermatecontrols.

FIG. 16 depicts a bar chart histogram showing an increase in absolutenumbers of CD4+ T lymphocytes in the spleens of IL-17 like transgenicmice as compared to the non-transgenic littermate controls.

FIG. 17 depicts scatter plots representative of the changes occurring inthe IL-17 like transgenic mice vs. their non-transgenic littermatecontrols. The two top plots labeled “A” are 2-color flow cytometric dotplots where CD45R+ and IL-17 like-Fc labeling are being depicted ontheir respective axes. Control plot “A” shows an absence of CD45R+/IL-17like-Fc+ cells in the region R1 whereas in the transgenic plot “A”, thispopulation was present in region R1 and represented 8% of the totalgranulocyte population. In the corresponding Forward vs. Side scatterplot (“B” and “C”) these cells are depicted as pink colored dots. Thispopulation was absent in the control plot “B”.

FIG. 18 depicts scatter plots representative of the changes occurring inthe IL-17 like transgenic mice vs. their non-transgenic littermatecontrols. The two top plots labeled “A” are 2-color flow cytometric dotplots where CD4 and IL-17 like-Fc labeling are being depicted on theirrespective axis. Control plot “A” shows an absence of CD4+/IL-17like-Fc+ cells in the region R1, whereas in the transgenic plot “A”,this population was present in region R1 and represented 14% of thetotal granulocyte population. In the corresponding Forward vs. Sidescatter plots (size vs. granularity), the IL-17 like transgenic mice (B)these cells are located just above the region where granulocytes aretypically found (red colored dots). These cells are absent in thecontrol plot “B”. Furthermore, for the transgenic mice (A), there is anemergence of a population of cells that was neither CD4+ nor IL-17like-Fc+ (region R2) but that has the scatter properties of eosinophils,localizing to the left of the granulocytes in the Forward vs. Sidescatter plot “B” (green colored dots). This population was absent in thecontrol plot “B”.

FIG. 19 depicts a bar chart histogram showing an increase in absolutenumbers of rhIL-17 like-Fc+/CD45R+ granulocyte-like cells in the bonemarrow of 5 out of 10 IL-17 like transgenic mice as compared to thenon-transgenic littermate controls.

FIG. 20 depicts a bar chart histogram showing an increase in absolutenumbers of rhIL-17 like-Fc+/CD4+ granulocyte-like cells in the bonemarrow of IL-17 like transgenic mice as compared to the non-transgeniclittermate controls.

FIG. 21 depicts an example of a typical Forward vs. Side scatter plot(size vs. granularity). Cells in the gate can be sorted to give apurified population.

FIG. 22 sets out the sequence of the IL-17RB-2 fusion protein (SEQ IDNO: 24) comprising the extra-cellular domain of IL-17-RB-2 (SEQ ID NO:2) and the FC fusion peptide (SEQ ID NO: 21). The FC fusion portion ofthe amino acid sequence is underlined and the native signal peptide ofIL-17RB-2 is bold.

FIG. 23 sets out the sequence of the IL-17RB-3 fusion protein (SEQ IDNO: 25) comprising the extra-cellular domain of IL-17-RB-3 (SEQ ID NO:5) and the FC fusion peptide (SEQ ID NO: 21). The FC fusion portion ofthe amino acid sequence is underlined and the native signal peptide ofIL-17RB-3 is bold.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The section headings used herein are for organizational purposes onlyand are not to be construed as limiting the subject matter described.All references cited in this application are expressly incorporated byreference herein.

Definitions

The terms “IL-17 receptor like gene” or “IL-17 receptor like nucleicacid molecule” or “polynucleotide” refers to a nucleic acid moleculecomprising or consisting of a nucleotide sequence as set forth in any ofSEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ ID NO:6, including combinationsthereof; a nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide as set forth inany of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof (such as, but not limited to fusion proteins as describedherein); the nucleotide sequences of the DNA insert(s) in Amgen depositno. A-666A-P (hIL-17rl.1, hIL-17rl.2, and hIL-17rl.3); and nucleic acidmolecules as defined herein.

The term “IL-17 receptor like polypeptide” refers to a polypeptidecomprising the amino acid sequence of any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5,OR SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof, and relatedpolypeptides. Related polypeptides include: IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide allelic variants, IL-17 receptor like polypeptide orthologs,IL-17 receptor like polypeptide splice variants, IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide variants and IL-17 receptor like polypeptide derivatives.IL-17 receptor like polypeptides may be mature polypeptides, as definedherein, and may or may not have an amino terminal methionine residue,depending on the method by which they are prepared.

The term “IL-17 receptor like polypeptide allelic variant” refers to oneof several possible naturally occurring alternate forms of a geneoccupying a given locus on a chromosome of an organism or a populationof organisms.

The term “IL-17 receptor like polypeptide derivatives” refers to thepolypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, OR SEQ IDNO:7, including combinations thereof, IL-17 receptor like polypeptideallelic variants, IL-17 receptor like polypeptide orthologs, IL-17receptor like polypeptide splice variants, or IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide variants, as defined herein, that have been chemicallymodified.

The term “IL-17 receptor like polypeptide fragment” refers to apolypeptide that comprises a truncation at the amino terminus (with orwithout a leader sequence) and/or a truncation at the carboxy terminusof the polypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, ORSEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof, IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide allelic variants, IL-17 receptor like polypeptide orthologs,IL-17 receptor like polypeptide splice variants and/or an IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide variant having one or more amino acid additions orsubstitutions or internal deletions (wherein the resulting polypeptideis at least 6 amino acids or more in length) as compared to the IL-17receptor like polypeptide amino acid sequence set forth in any of SEQ IDNO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, OR SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof. IL-17receptor like polypeptide fragments may result from alternative RNAsplicing or from in vivo protease activity. For transmembrane ormembrane-bound forms of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, preferredfragments include soluble forms such as those lacking a transmembrane ormembrane-binding domain. For example, a soluble fragment of the IL-17receptor like polypeptide is a polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO: 2 whichlacks amino acids 293 to 313 or a polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO: 5which lacks amino acids 351 to 371. Preferred IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide fragments retain the ability to bind to IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide ligands such as IL-17E of SEQ ID NO: 23. In preferredembodiments, truncations comprise about 10 amino acids, or about 20amino acids, or about 50 amino acids, or about 75 amino acids, or about100 amino acids, or more than about 100 amino acids. The polypeptidefragments so produced will comprise about 25 contiguous amino acids, orabout 50 amino acids, or about 75 amino acids, or about 100 amino acids,or about 150 amino acids, or about 200 amino acids. Such IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide fragments may optionally comprise an amino terminalmethionine residue. It will be appreciated that such fragments can beused, for example, to generate antibodies to IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides.

The term “IL-17 receptor like fusion polypeptide” refers to a fusion ofone or more amino acids (such as a heterologous peptide or polypeptide)at the amino or carboxy terminus of the polypeptide as set forth in anyof SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof, IL-17 receptor like polypeptide allelic variants, IL-17receptor like polypeptide orthologs, IL-17 receptor like polypeptidesplice variants, or IL-17 receptor like polypeptide variants having oneor more amino acid deletions, substitutions or internal additions ascompared to the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide amino acid sequence setforth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, includingcombinations thereof. It will be appreciated that fusion proteinsinclude combinations of polypeptide amino acid sequence as set forth inany of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7.

The term “IL-17 receptor like polypeptide ortholog” refers to apolypeptide from another species that corresponds to IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide amino acid sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof. For example,mouse and human IL-17 receptor like polypeptides are consideredorthologs of each other.

The term “IL-17 receptor like polypeptide splice variant” refers to anucleic acid molecule, usually RNA, which is generated by alternativeprocessing of intron sequences in an RNA transcript of IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide amino acid sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2,SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof.

The term “IL-17 receptor like polypeptide variants” refers to IL-17receptor like polypeptides comprising amino acid sequences having one ormore amino acid sequence substitutions, deletions (such as internaldeletions and/or IL-17 receptor like polypeptide fragments), and/oradditions (such as internal additions and/or IL-17 receptor like fusionpolypeptides) as compared to the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide aminoacid sequence set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, OR SEQ IDNO:7, including combinations thereof (with or without a leadersequence). Variants may be naturally occurring (e.g., IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide allelic variants, IL-17 receptor like polypeptideorthologs and IL-17 receptor like polypeptide splice variants) orartificially constructed. Such IL-17 receptor like polypeptide variantsmay be prepared from the corresponding nucleic acid molecules having aDNA sequence that varies accordingly from the DNA sequence as set forthin any of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:4, OR SEQ ID NO:6, includingcombinations thereof. In preferred embodiments, the variants have from 1to 3, or from 1 to 5, or from 1 to 10, or from 1 to 15, or from 1 to 20,or from 1 to 25, or from 1 to 50, or from 1 to 75, or from 1 to 100, ormore than 100 amino acid substitutions, insertions, additions and/ordeletions, wherein the substitutions may be conservative, ornon-conservative, or any combination thereof.

The term “antigen” refers to a molecule or a portion of a moleculecapable of being bound by a selective binding agent, such as anantibody, and additionally capable of being used in an animal to produceantibodies capable of binding to an epitope of that antigen. An antigenmay have one or more epitopes.

The term specific binding reaction referred to above is meant toindicate that the antigen will react, in a highly selective manner, withits corresponding antibody and not with the multitude of otherantibodies which can be evoked by other antigens.

The term “biologically active IL-17 receptor like polypeptides” refersto IL-17 receptor like polypeptides having at least one activitycharacteristic of the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence ofany of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof.

The terms “effective amount” and “therapeutically effective amount” eachrefer to the amount of a IL-17 receptor like polypeptide or IL-17receptor like nucleic acid molecule used to support an observable levelof one or more biological activities of the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides as set forth herein.

The term “expression vector” refers to a vector which is suitable foruse in a host cell and contains nucleic acid sequences which directand/or control the expression of inserted heterologous nucleic acidsequences. Expression includes, but is not limited to, processes such astranscription, translation, and RNA splicing, if introns are present.

The term “host cell” is used to refer to a cell which has beentransformed, or is capable of being transformed with a nucleic acidsequence and then of expressing a selected gene of interest. The termincludes the progeny of the parent cell, whether or not the progeny isidentical in morphology or in genetic make-up to the original parent, solong as the selected gene is present.

The term “identity” as known in the art, refers to a relationshipbetween the sequences of two or more polypeptide molecules or two ormore nucleic acid molecules, as determined by comparing the sequences.In the art, “identity” also means the degree of sequence relatednessbetween nucleic acid molecules or polypeptides, as the case may be, asdetermined by the match between strings of two or more nucleotide or twoor more amino acid sequences. “Identity” measures the percent ofidentical matches between the smaller of two or more sequences with gapalignments (if any) addressed by a particular mathematical model orcomputer program (i.e., “algorithms”).

The term “similarity” is a related concept, but in contrast to“identity”, refers to a measure of similarity which includes bothidentical matches and conservative substitution matches. If twopolypeptide sequences have, for example, 10/20 identical amino acids,and the remainder are all non-conservative substitutions, then thepercent identity and similarity would both be 50%. If in the sameexample, there are 5 more positions where there are conservativesubstitutions, then the percent identity remains 50%, but the percentsimilarity would be 75% (15/20). Therefore, in cases where there areconservative substitutions, the degree of similarity between twopolypeptides will be higher than the percent identity between those twopolypeptides.

The term “isolated nucleic acid molecule” refers to a nucleic acidmolecule of the invention that (1) has been separated from at leastabout 50 percent of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates or other materialswith which it is naturally found when total DNA is isolated from thesource cells, (2) is not linked to all or a portion of a polynucleotideto which the “isolated nucleic acid molecule” is linked in nature, (3)is operably linked to a polynucleotide which it is not linked to innature, or (4) does not occur in nature as part of a largerpolynucleotide sequence. Preferably, the isolated nucleic acid moleculeof the present invention is substantially free from at least onecontaminating nucleic acid molecule with which it is naturallyassociated. Preferably, the isolated nucleic acid molecule of thepresent invention is substantially free from any other contaminatingnucleic acid molecule(s) or other contaminants that are found in itsnatural environment that would interfere with its use in polypeptideproduction or its therapeutic, diagnostic, prophylactic or research use.

The term “isolated polypeptide” refers to a polypeptide of the presentinvention that (1) has been separated from at least about 50 percent ofpolynucleotides, lipids, carbohydrates or other materials with which itis naturally found when isolated from the cell source, (2) is not linked(by covalent or noncovalent interaction) to all or a portion of apolypeptide to which the “isolated polypeptide” is linked to in nature,(3) is operably linked (by covalent or noncovalent interaction) to apolypeptide with which it is not linked in nature, or (4) does not occurin nature. Preferably, the isolated polypeptide is substantially freefrom any other contaminating polypeptides or other contaminants that arefound in its natural environment that would interfere with itstherapeutic, diagnostic, prophylactic or research use.

The term “mature IL-17 receptor like polypeptide” refers to an IL-17receptor like polypeptide lacking a leader sequence. A mature IL-17receptor like polypeptide may also include other modifications such asproteolytic processing of the amino terminus (with or without a leadersequence) and/or the carboxy terminus, cleavage of a smaller polypeptidefrom a larger precursor, N-linked and/or O-linked glycosylation, and thelike.

The term “nucleic acid sequence” or “nucleic acid molecule” refers to aDNA or RNA sequence. The term encompasses molecules formed from any ofthe known base analogs of DNA and RNA such as, but not limited to4-acetylcytosine, 8-hydroxy-N-6-methyladenosine, aziridinyl-cytosine,pseudoisocytosine, 5-(carboxyhydroxylmethyl) uracil, 5-fluorouracil,5-bromouracil, 5-carboxymethylaminomethyl-2-thiouracil,5-carboxy-methylaminomethyluracil, dihydrouracil, inosine,N6-iso-pentenyladenine, 1-methyladenine, 1-methylpseudouracil,1-methylguanine, 1-methylinosine, 2,2-dimethyl-guanine, 2-methyladenine,2-methylguanine, 3-methylcytosine, 5-methylcytosine, N6-methyladenine,7-methylguanine, 5-methylaminomethyluracil,5-methoxyamino-methyl-2-thiouracil, beta-D-mannosylqueosine,5′-methoxycarbonyl-methyluracil, 5-methoxyuracil,2-methylthio-N6-isopentenyladenine, uracil-5-oxyacetic acid methylester,uracil-5-oxyacetic acid, oxybutoxosine, pseudouracil, queosine,2-thiocytosine, 5-methyl-2-thiouracil, 2-thiouracil, 4-thiouracil,5-methyluracil, N-uracil-5-oxyacetic acid methylester,uracil-5-oxyacetic acid, pseudouracil, queosine, 2-thiocytosine, and2,6-diaminopurine.

The term “naturally occurring” or “native” when used in connection withbiological materials such as nucleic acid molecules, polypeptides, hostcells, and the like, refers to materials which are found in nature andare not manipulated by man. Similarly, “non-naturally occurring” or“non-native” as used herein refers to a material that is not found innature or that has been structurally modified or synthesized by man.

The term “naturally occurring” or “native” when used in connection withbiological materials such as nucleic acid molecules, polypeptides, hostcells, and the like, refers to materials which are found in nature andare not manipulated by man. Similarly, “non-naturally occurring” or“non-native” as used herein refers to a material that is not found innature or that has been structurally modified or synthesized by man

The term “operably linked” is used herein to refer to an arrangement offlanking sequences wherein the flanking sequences so described areconfigured or assembled so as to perform their usual function. Thus, aflanking sequence operably linked to a coding sequence may be capable ofeffecting the replication, transcription and/or translation of thecoding sequence. For example, a coding sequence is operably linked to apromoter when the promoter is capable of directing transcription of thatcoding sequence. A flanking sequence need not be contiguous with thecoding sequence, so long as it functions correctly. Thus, for example,intervening untranslated yet transcribed sequences can be presentbetween a promoter sequence and the coding sequence and the promotersequence can still be considered “operably linked” to the codingsequence.

The term “pharmaceutically acceptable carrier” or “physiologicallyacceptable carrier” as used herein refers to one or more formulationmaterials suitable for accomplishing or enhancing the delivery of theIL-17 receptor like polypeptide, IL-17 receptor like nucleic acidmolecule or IL-17 receptor like selective binding agent as apharmaceutical composition.

The term “selective binding agent” refers to a molecule or moleculeshaving specificity for an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. Selectivebinding agents include antibodies, such as polyclonal antibodies,monoclonal antibodies (mABs), chimeric antibodies, CDR-graftedantibodies, anti-idiotypic (anti-Id) antibodies to antibodies that canbe labeled in soluble or bound forms, as well as fragments, regions, orderivatives thereof which are provided by known techniques, including,but not limited to enzymatic cleavage, peptide synthesis, or recombinanttechniques.

IL-17 receptor like polypeptides, fragments, variants, and derivativesmay be used to prepare IL-17 receptor like selective binding agentsusing methods known in the art. Thus, antibodies and antibody fragmentsthat bind IL-17 receptor like polypeptides are within the scope of thepresent invention. Antibody fragments include those portions of theantibody which bind to an epitope on the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide. Examples of such fragments include Fab and F(ab′) fragmentsgenerated by enzymatic cleavage of full-length antibodies. Other bindingfragments include those generated by recombinant DNA techniques, such asthe expression of recombinant plasmids containing nucleic acid sequencesencoding antibody variable regions. These antibodies may be, forexample, polyclonal monospecific polyclonal, monoclonal, recombinant,chimeric, humanized, human, single chain, and/or bispecific.

As used herein, the terms, “specific” and “specificity” refer to theability of the selective binding agents to bind to human IL-17 receptorlike polypeptides and not to bind to human non-IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides. It will be appreciated, however, that the selectivebinding agents may also bind orthologs of the polypeptide as set forthin any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, includingcombinations thereof, that is, interspecies versions thereof, such asmouse and rat polypeptides.

The term “transduction” is used to refer to the transfer of genes fromone bacterium to another, usually by a phage. “Transduction” also refersto the acquisition and transfer of eukaryotic cellular sequences byretroviruses.

The term “transfection” is used to refer to the uptake of foreign orexogenous DNA by a cell, and a cell has been “transfected” when theexogenous DNA has been introduced inside the cell membrane. A number oftransfection techniques are well known in the art and are disclosedherein. See, for example, Graham et al., Virology, 52:456 (1973);Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning, a laboratory Manual, Cold SpringHarbor Laboratories (New York, 1989); Davis et al., Basic Methods inMolecular Biology, Elsevier, 1986; and Chu et al., Gene, 13:197 (1981).Such techniques can be used to introduce one or more exogenous DNAmoieties into suitable host cells.

The term “transformation” as used herein refers to a change in a cell'sgenetic characteristics, and a cell has been transformed when it hasbeen modified to contain a new DNA. For example, a cell is transformedwhere it is genetically modified from its native state. Followingtransfection or transduction, the transforming DNA may recombine withthat of the cell by physically integrating into a chromosome of thecell, may be maintained transiently as an episomal element without beingreplicated, or may replicate independently as a plasmid. A cell isconsidered to have been stably transformed when the DNA is replicatedwith the division of the cell.

The term “vector” is used to refer to any molecule (e.g., nucleic acid,plasmid, or virus) used to transfer coding information to a host cell.

Relatedness of Nucleic Acid Molecules and/or Polypeptides

It is understood that related nucleic acid molecules include allelic orsplice variants of the nucleic acid molecule of any of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQID NO:4, or SEQ ID NO:6, including combinations thereof; and includesequences which are complementary to any of the above nucleotidesequences. Related nucleic acid molecules also include a nucleotidesequence encoding a polypeptide comprising or consisting essentially ofa substitution, modification, addition and/or a deletion of one or moreamino acid residues compared to the polypeptide in any of SEQ ID NO:2,SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof.

Fragments include molecules which encode a polypeptide of at least about25 amino acid residues, or about 50, or about 75, or about 100, orgreater than about 100 amino acid residues of the polypeptide of any ofSEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof.

In addition, related IL-17 receptor like nucleic acid molecules includethose molecules which comprise nucleotide sequences which hybridizeunder moderately or highly stringent conditions as defined herein withthe fully complementary sequence of the nucleic acid molecule of any ofSEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ ID NO:6, including combinationsthereof, or of a molecule encoding a polypeptide, which polypeptidecomprises the amino acid sequence as shown in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ IDNO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof, or of a nucleicacid fragment as defined herein, or of a nucleic acid fragment encodinga polypeptide as defined herein. Hybridization probes may be preparedusing the IL-17 receptor like sequences provided herein to screen cDNA,genomic or synthetic DNA libraries for related sequences. Regions of theDNA and/or amino acid sequence of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide thatexhibit significant identity to known sequences are readily determinedusing sequence alignment algorithms as described herein and thoseregions may be used to design probes for screening.

The term “highly stringent conditions” refers to those conditions thatare designed to permit hybridization of DNA strands whose sequences arehighly complementary, and to exclude hybridization of significantlymismatched DNAs. Hybridization stringency is principally determined bytemperature, ionic strength, and the concentration of denaturing agentssuch as formamide. Examples of “highly stringent conditions” forhybridization and washing are 0.015M sodium chloride, 0.0015M sodiumcitrate at 65-68° C. or 0.015M sodium chloride, 0.0015M sodium citrate,and 50% formamide at 42° C. See Sambrook, Fritsch & Maniatis, MolecularCloning: A Laboratory Manual, 2^(nd) Ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory,(Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. 1989); Anderson et al., Nucleic AcidHybridisation: a practical approach, Ch. 4, IRL Press Limited (Oxford,England).

More stringent conditions (such as higher temperature, lower ionicstrength, higher formamide, or other denaturing agent) may also be used,however, the rate of hybridization will be affected. Other agents may beincluded in the hybridization and washing buffers for the purpose ofreducing non-specific and/or background hybridization. Examples are 0.1%bovine serum albumin, 0.1% polyvinyl-pyrrolidone, 0.1% sodiumpyrophosphate, 0.1% sodium dodecylsulfate (NaDodSO₄ or SDS), ficoll,Denhardt's solution, sonicated salmon sperm DNA (or othernon-complementary DNA), and dextran sulfate, although other suitableagents can also be used. The concentration and types of these additivescan be changed without substantially affecting the stringency of thehybridization conditions. Hybridization experiments are usually carriedout at pH 6.8-7.4, however, at typical ionic strength conditions, therate of hybridization is nearly independent of pH. See Anderson et al.,Nucleic Acid Hybridisation: a Practical Approach, Ch. 4, IRL PressLimited (Oxford, England).

Factors affecting the stability of a DNA duplex include basecomposition, length, and degree of base pair mismatch. Hybridizationconditions can be adjusted by one skilled in the art in order toaccommodate these variables and allow DNAs of different sequencerelatedness to form hybrids. The melting temperature of a perfectlymatched DNA duplex can be estimated by the following equation:T _(m)(° C.)=81.5+16.6(log[Na+])+0.41(% G+C)−600/N−0.72(% formamide)

where N is the length of the duplex formed, [Na+] is the molarconcentration of the sodium ion in the hybridization or washingsolution, % G+C is the percentage of (guanine+cytosine) bases in thehybrid. For imperfectly matched hybrids, the melting temperature isreduced by approximately 1° C. for each 1% mismatch.

The term “moderately stringent conditions” refers to conditions underwhich a DNA duplex with a greater degree of base pair mismatching thancould occur under “highly stringent conditions” is able to form.Examples of typical “moderately stringent conditions” are 0.015M sodiumchloride, 0.0015M sodium citrate at 50-65° C. or 0.015M sodium chloride,0.0015M sodium citrate, and 20% formamide at 37-50° C. By way ofexample, a “moderately stringent” condition of 50° C. in 0.015 M sodiumion will allow about a 21% mismatch.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that there is noabsolute distinction between “highly” and “moderately” stringentconditions. For example, at 0.015M sodium ion (no formamide), themelting temperature of perfectly matched long DNA is about 71° C. With awash at 65° C. (at the same ionic strength), this would allow forapproximately a 6% mismatch. To capture more distantly relatedsequences, one skilled in the art can simply lower the temperature orraise the ionic strength.

A good estimate of the melting temperature in 1M NaCl* foroligonucleotide probes up to about 20 nt is given by:Tm=2° C. per A−T base pair+4° C. per G−C base pair

*The sodium ion concentration in 6× salt sodium citrate (SSC) is 1M. SeeSuggs et al., Developmental Biology Using Purified Genes, p. 683, Brownand Fox (eds.) (1981).

High stringency washing conditions for oligonucleotides are usually at atemperature of 0-5° C. below the Tm of the oligonucleotide in 6×SSC,0.1% SDS.

In another embodiment, related nucleic acid molecules comprise orconsist of a nucleotide sequence that is about 70 percent identical tothe nucleotide sequence as shown in any of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:4, orSEQ ID NO:6, including combinations thereof, or comprise or consistessentially of a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide that isabout 70 percent identical to the polypeptide as set forth in any of SEQID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof. Inpreferred embodiments, the nucleotide sequences are about 75 percent, orabout 80 percent, or about 85 percent, or about 90 percent, or about 95,96, 97, 98, or 99 percent identical to the nucleotide sequence as shownin any of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ ID NO:6, includingcombinations thereof, or the nucleotide sequences encode a polypeptidethat is about 75 percent, or about 80 percent, or about 85 percent, orabout 90 percent, or about 95, 96, 97, 98, or 99 percent identical tothe polypeptide sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ IDNO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof.

Differences in the nucleic acid sequence may result in conservativeand/or non-conservative modifications of the amino acid sequencerelative to the amino acid sequence of any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5,or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof.

Conservative modifications to the amino acid sequence of any of SEQ IDNO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof (andthe corresponding modifications to the encoding nucleotides) willproduce IL-17 receptor like polypeptides having functional and chemicalcharacteristics similar to those of naturally occurring IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide. In contrast, substantial modifications in thefunctional and/or chemical characteristics of IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides may be accomplished by selecting substitutions in the aminoacid sequence of any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7,including combinations thereof, that differ significantly in theireffect on maintaining (a) the structure of the molecular backbone in thearea of the substitution, for example, as a sheet or helicalconformation, (b) the charge or hydrophobicity of the molecule at thetarget site, or (c) the bulk of the side chain.

For example, a “conservative amino acid substitution” may involve asubstitution of a native amino acid residue with a normative residuesuch that there is little or no effect on the polarity or charge of theamino acid residue at that position. Furthermore, any native residue inthe polypeptide may also be substituted with alanine, as has beenpreviously described for “alanine scanning mutagenesis.”

Conservative amino acid substitutions also encompass non-naturallyoccurring amino acid residues which are typically incorporated bychemical peptide synthesis rather than by synthesis in biologicalsystems. These include peptidomimetics, and other reversed or invertedforms of amino acid moieties. It will be appreciated by those of skillin the art that nucleic acid and polypeptide molecules described hereinmay be chemically synthesized as well as produced by recombinant means.

Naturally occurring residues may be divided into classes based on commonside chain properties:

-   -   1) hydrophobic: norleucine, Met, Ala, Val, Leu, Ile;    -   2) neutral hydrophilic: Cys, Ser, Thr, Asn, Gln;    -   3) acidic: Asp, Glu;    -   4) basic: His, Lys, Arg;    -   5) residues that influence chain orientation: Gly, Pro; and    -   6) aromatic: Trp, Tyr, Phe.

For example, non-conservative substitutions may involve the exchange ofa member of one of these classes for a member from another class. Suchsubstituted residues may be introduced into regions of the human IL-17receptor like polypeptide that are homologous with non-human IL-17receptor like polypeptide orthologs, or into the non-homologous regionsof the molecule.

In making such changes, the hydropathic index of amino acids may beconsidered. Each amino acid has been assigned a hydropathic index on thebasis of their hydrophobicity and charge characteristics, these are:isoleucine (+4.5); valine (+4.2); leucine (+3.8); phenylalanine (+2.8);cysteine/cystine (+2.5); methionine (+1.9); alanine (+1.8); glycine(−0.4); threonine (−0.7); serine (−0.8); tryptophan (−0.9); tyrosine(−1.3); proline (−1.6); histidine (−3.2); glutamate (−3.5); glutamine(−3.5); aspartate (−3.5); asparagine (−3.5); lysine (−3.9); and arginine(−4.5).

The importance of the hydropathic amino acid index in conferringinteractive biological function on a protein is understood in the art.Kyte et al., J. Mol. Biol., 157:105-131 (1982). It is known that certainamino acids may be substituted for other amino acids having a similarhydropathic index or score and still retain a similar biologicalactivity. In making changes based upon the hydropathic index, thesubstitution of amino acids whose hydropathic indices are within ±2 ispreferred, those which are within ±1 are particularly preferred, andthose within ±0.5 are even more particularly preferred.

It is also understood in the art that the substitution of like aminoacids can be made effectively on the basis of hydrophilicity,particularly where the biologically functionally equivalent protein orpeptide thereby created is intended for use in immunologicalembodiments, as in the present case. The greatest local averagehydrophilicity of a protein, as governed by the hydrophilicity of itsadjacent amino acids, correlates with its immunogenicity andantigenicity, i.e., with a biological property of the protein.

The following hydrophilicity values have been assigned to amino acidresidues: arginine (+3.0); lysine (+3.0); aspartate (+3.0±1); glutamate(+3.0±1); serine (+0.3); asparagine (+0.2); glutamine (+0.2); glycine(0); threonine (−0.4); proline (−0.5±1); alanine (−0.5); histidine(−0.5); cysteine (−1.0); methionine (−1.3); valine (−1.5); leucine(−1.8); isoleucine (−1.8); tyrosine (−2.3); phenylalanine (−2.5);tryptophan (−3.4). In making changes based upon similar hydrophilicityvalues, the substitution of amino acids whose hydrophilicity values arewithin ±2 is preferred, those which are within ±1 are particularlypreferred, and those within ±0.5 are even more particularly preferred.One may also identify epitopes from primary amino acid sequences on thebasis of hydrophilicity. These regions are also referred to as “epitopiccore regions.”

Desired amino acid substitutions (whether conservative ornon-conservative) can be determined by those skilled in the art at thetime such substitutions are desired. For example, amino acidsubstitutions can be used to identify important residues of the IL-17receptor like polypeptide, or to increase or decrease the affinity ofthe IL-17 receptor like polypeptides described herein.

Exemplary amino acid substitutions are set forth in Table I.

Amino Acid Substitutions Original Exemplary Preferred ResiduesSubstitutions Substitutions Ala Val, Leu, Ile Val Arg Lys, Gln, Asn LysAsn Gln Gln Asp Glu Glu Cys Ser, Ala Ser Gln Asn Asn Glu Asp Asp GlyPro, Ala Ala His Asn, Gln, Lys, Arg Arg Ile Leu, Val, Met, Ala, Leu Phe,Norleucine Leu Norleucine, Ile, Ile Val, Met, Ala, Phe Lys Arg, 1,4Diamino- Arg butyric Acid, Gln, Asn Met Leu, Phe, Ile Leu Phe Leu, Val,Ile, Ala, Leu Tyr Pro Ala Gly Ser Thr, Ala, Cys Thr Thr Ser Ser Trp Tyr,Phe Tyr Tyr Trp, Phe, Thr, Ser Phe Val Ile, Met, Leu, Phe, Leu Ala,Norleucine

A skilled artisan will be able to determine suitable variants of thepolypeptide as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ IDNO:7, including combinations thereof, using well known techniques. Foridentifying suitable areas of the molecule that may be changed withoutdestroying activity, one skilled in the art may target areas notbelieved to be important for activity. For example, when similarpolypeptides with similar activities from the same species or from otherspecies are known, one skilled in the art may compare the amino acidsequence of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide to such similarpolypeptides. With such a comparison, one can identify residues andportions of the molecules that are conserved among similar polypeptides.It will be appreciated that changes in areas of an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide that are not conserved relative to such similar polypeptideswould be less likely to adversely affect the biological activity and/orstructure of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. One skilled in the artwould also know that, even in relatively conserved regions, one maysubstitute chemically similar amino acids for the naturally occurringresidues while retaining activity (conservative amino acid residuesubstitutions). Therefore, even areas that may be important forbiological activity or for structure may be subject to conservativeamino acid substitutions without destroying the biological activity orwithout adversely affecting the polypeptide structure.

For predicting suitable areas of the molecule that may be changedwithout destroying activity, one skilled in the art may target areas notbelieved to be important for activity. For example, when similarpolypeptides with similar activities from the same species or from otherspecies are known, one skilled in the art may compare the amino acidsequence of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide to such similarpolypeptides. After making such a comparison, one skilled in the art candetermine residues and portions of the molecules that are conservedamong similar polypeptides. One skilled in the art would know thatchanges in areas of the IL-17 receptor like molecule that are notconserved would be less likely to adversely affect the biologicalactivity and/or structure of a IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. Oneskilled in the art would also know that, even in relatively conservedregions, one may substitute chemically similar amino acids for thenaturally occurring residues while retaining activity (conservativeamino acid residue substitutions).

Additionally, one skilled in the art can review structure-functionstudies identifying residues in similar polypeptides that are importantfor activity or structure. In view of such a comparison, one can predictthe importance of amino acid residues in an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide that correspond to amino acid residues that are importantfor activity or structure in similar polypeptides. One skilled in theart may opt for chemically similar amino acid substitutions for suchpredicted important amino acid residues of IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides.

One skilled in the art can also analyze the three-dimensional structureand amino acid sequence in relation to that structure in similarpolypeptides. In view of that information, one skilled in the art maypredict the alignment of amino acid residues of an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide with respect to its three dimensional structure. One skilledin the art may choose not to make radical changes to amino acid residuespredicted to be on the surface of the protein, since such residues maybe involved in important interactions with other molecules. Moreover,one skilled in the art may generate test variants containing a singleamino acid substitution at each desired amino acid residue. The variantscan then be screened using activity assays know to those skilled in theart. Such variants could be used to gather information about suitablevariants. For example, if one discovered that a change to a particularamino acid residue resulted in destroyed, undesirably reduced, orunsuitable activity, variants with such a change would be avoided. Inother words, based on information gathered from such routineexperiments, one skilled in the art can readily determine the aminoacids where further substitutions should be avoided either alone or incombination with other mutations.

Numerous scientific publications have been devoted to the prediction ofsecondary structure, and to the identification of epitopes, fromanalyses of amino acid sequences. See Chou et al., Biochemistry,13(2):222-245 (1974); Chou et al., Biochemistry, 113(2):211-222 (1974);Chou et al., Adv. Enzymol. Relat. Areas Mol. Biol., 47:45-148 (1978);Chou et al., Ann. Rev. Biochem., 47:251-276 and Chou et al., Biophys.J., 26:367-384 (1979). Moreover, computer programs are currentlyavailable to assist with predicting antigenic portions and epitopic coreregions of proteins. Examples include those programs based upon the.Examples include those programs based upon the Jameson-Wolf analysis(Jameson et al., Comput. Appl. Biosci., 4(1):181-186 (1998) and Wolf etal., Comput. Appl. Biosci., 4(1):187-191 (1988), the program PepPlot®(Brutlag et al., CABS, 6:237-245 (1990), and Weinberger et al., Science,228:740-742 (1985), and other new programs for protein tertiarystructure prediction (Fetrow et al., Biotechnology, 11:479-483 (1993).

Moreover, computer programs are currently available to assist withpredicting secondary structure. One method of predicting secondarystructure is based upon homology modeling. For example, two polypeptidesor proteins which have a sequence identity of greater than 30%, orsimilarity greater than 40% often have similar structural topologies.The recent growth of the protein structural data base (PDB) has providedenhanced predictability of secondary structure, including the potentialnumber of folds within a polypeptide's or protein's structure. See Holmet al., Nucl. Acid. Res., 27(1):244-247 (1999). It has been suggested(Brenner et al., Curr. Op. Struct. Biol., 7(3):369-376 (1997)) thatthere are a limited number of folds in a given polypeptide or proteinand that once a critical number of structures have been resolved,structural prediction will gainbecome dramatically in accuracy. moreaccurate.

Additional methods of predicting secondary structure include “threading”(Jones, D., Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol., 7(3):377-87 (1997); Sippl et al.,Structure, 4(1):15-9 (1996)), “profile analysis” (Bowie et al., Science,253:164-170 (1991); Gribskov et al., Meth. Enzym., 183:146-159 (1990);Gribskov et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 84(13):4355-4358 (1987)), and“evolutionary linkage” (See Home, supra, and Brenner, supra)

IL-17 receptor like polypeptide analogs of the invention can bedetermined by comparing the amino acid sequence of IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide with related family members. An exemplary IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide related family member is human IL-17 receptorpolypeptide as set out in SEQ ID NO: 3. This comparison can beaccomplished by using a Pileup alignment (Wisconsin GCG Program Package)or an equivalent (overlapping) comparison with multiple family memberswithin conserved and non-conserved regions.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 4 and 6, the predicted amino acid sequences ofhuman IL-17 receptor like polypeptides (SEQ ID NOS: 2, 5 and 7) arealigned with a known human IL-17 receptor family member (SEQ ID NO: 3)respectively. Other IL-17 receptor like polypeptide analogs can bedetermined using these or other methods known to those of skill in theart. These overlapping sequences provide guidance for conservative andnon-conservative amino acids substitutions resulting in additional IL-17receptor like analogs. It will be appreciated that these amino acidsubstitutions can consist of naturally occurring or non-naturallyoccurring amino acids. For example, potential IL-17 receptor likeanalogs may have the Met at residue at position 167 of SEQ ID NO: 2,position 225 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or position 50 of SEQ ID NO: 7 substitutedwith a Leu, Ile, or Phe residue; the Cys residue at position 261 of SEQID NO: 2, position 319 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or position 144 of SEQ ID No: 7substituted with a Ser or Ala residue; and/or the Leu residue atposition 299 of SEQ ID NO: 2, position 357 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or position212 of SEQ ID No: 7 substituted with a norleucine, Gln, Asn, Arg, 1,4,or Diamino-butyric Acid. In addition, potential IL-17 receptor likeanalogs may have the Trp residue at position 313 of SEQ ID NO: 2,position 371 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or position 196 of SEQ ID NO: 7 substitutedwith a Tyr or Phe residue; the Gly residue at position 413 of SEQ ID NO:2, position 471 of SEQ ID NO: 5 or position 296 of SEQ ID NO: 7substituted with a Pro or Ala residue; and/or the Asp residue atposition 433 of SEQ ID NO: 2, position 491 of SEQ ID No: 5 or position313 of SEQ ID No: 7 substituted with a Glu residue.

Preferred IL-17 receptor like polypeptide variants include glycosylationvariants wherein the number and/or type of glycosylation sites has beenaltered compared to the amino acid sequence set forth in any of SEQ IDNO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof. Inone embodiment, IL-17 receptor like polypeptide variants comprise agreater or a lesser number of N-linked glycosylation sites than theamino acid sequence set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQID NO:7, including combinations thereof. An N-linked glycosylation siteis characterized by the sequence: Asn-X-Ser or Asn-X-Thr, wherein theamino acid residue designated as X may be any amino acid residue exceptproline. The substitution(s) of amino acid residues to create thissequence provides a potential new site for the addition of an N-linkedcarbohydrate chain. Alternatively, substitutions which eliminate thissequence will remove an existing N-linked carbohydrate chain. Alsoprovided is a rearrangement of N-linked carbohydrate chains wherein oneor more N-linked glycosylation sites (typically those that are naturallyoccurring) are eliminated and one or more new N-linked sites arecreated. Additional preferred IL-17 receptor like variants includecysteine variants, wherein one or more cysteine residues are deletedfrom or substituted for another amino acid (e.g., serine) as compared tothe amino acid sequence set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, orSEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof. Cysteine variants areuseful when IL-17 receptor like polypeptides must be refolded into abiologically active conformation such as after the isolation ofinsoluble inclusion bodies. Cysteine variants generally have fewercysteine residues than the native protein, and typically have an evennumber to minimize interactions resulting from unpaired cysteines.

In addition, the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of anyof SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof, or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide variant, including afragment and/or derivative, may be fused to a homologous polypeptide toform a homodimer or to a heterologous polypeptide to form a heterodimer.Heterologous peptides and polypeptides include, but are not limited to:an epitope to allow for the detection and/or isolation of an IL-17receptor like fusion polypeptide; a transmembrane receptor protein or aportion thereof, such as an extracellular domain, or a transmembrane andintracellular domain; a ligand or a portion thereof which binds to atransmembrane receptor protein; an enzyme or portion thereof which iscatalytically active; a polypeptide or peptide which promotesoligomerization, such as a leucine zipper domain; a polypeptide orpeptide which increases stability, such as an immunoglobulin constantregion; and a polypeptide which has a therapeutic activity differentfrom the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence as set forth inany of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinationsthereof, or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide variant.

Fusions can be made either at the amino terminus or at the carboxyterminus of the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence set forthin any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, includingcombinations thereof, or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide variant.Fusions may be direct with no linker or adapter molecule or indirectusing a linker or adapter molecule. A linker or adapter molecule may beone or more amino acid residues, typically up to about 20 to about 50amino acid residues. A linker or adapter molecule may also be designedwith a cleavage site for a DNA restriction endonuclease or for aprotease to allow for the separation of the fused moieties. It will beappreciated that once constructed, the fusion polypeptides can bederivatized according to the methods described herein.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the polypeptide comprising theamino acid sequence of any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, OR SEQ ID NO:7,including combinations thereof, or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptidevariant is fused to one or more domains of an Fc region of human IgG.Antibodies comprise two functionally independent parts, a variabledomain known as “Fab”, which binds antigen, and a constant domain knownas “Fc”, which is involved in effector functions such as complementactivation and attack by phagocytic cells. An Fc has a long serumhalf-life, whereas an Fab is short-lived. Capon et al., Nature,337:525-31 (1989). When constructed together with a therapeutic protein,an Fc domain can provide longer half-life or incorporate such functionsas Fc receptor binding, protein A binding, complement fixation andperhaps even placental transfer. Id. Table II summarizes the use ofcertain Fc fusions known in the art, including materials and methodsapplicable to the production of fused IL-17 receptor like polypeptide.

TABLE II Fc Fusion with Therapeutic Proteins Fusion Therapeutic Form ofFc partner implications Reference IgG1 N-terminus Hodgkin's U.S. Pat.No. of CD30-L disease; 5,480,981 anaplastic lymphoma; T-cell leukemiaMurine IL-10 anti- Zheng et al. Fcγ2a inflammatory; (1995), J. Immunol.,transplant 154: rejection 5590-5600 IgG1 TNF septic shock Fisher et al.receptor (1996), N. Engl. J. Med., 334: 1697-1702; Van Zee et al.,(1996), J. Immunol., 156: 2221-2230 IgG, IgA, TNF inflammation, U.S.Pat. No. IgM, or receptor autoimmune 5,808,029, issued IgE disordersSep. 15, (excluding 1998 the first domain) IgG1 CD4 AIDS Capon et al.receptor (1989), Nature 337: 525-531 IgG1, N-terminus anti-cancer,Harvill et al. IgG3 of IL-2 antiviral (1995), Immunotech., 1: 95-105IgG1 C-terminus osteoarthritis; WO 97/23614, of OPG bone densitypublished Jul. 3, 1997 IgG1 N-terminus anti-obesity PCT/US 97/23183, ofleptin filed Dec. 11, 1997 Human Ig CTLA-4 autoimmune Linsley (1991),Cγ1 disorders J. Exp. Med., 174: 561-569

In one example, all or a portion of the human IgG hinge, CH2 and CH3regions may be fused at either the N-terminus or C-terminus of the IL-17receptor like polypeptides using methods known to the skilled artisan.In another example, a portion of hinge regions and CH2 and CH3 regionsmay be fused. The resulting IL-17 receptor like polypeptide-Fc fusionpolypeptide may be purified by use of a Protein A affinity column.Peptides and proteins fused to an Fc region have been found to exhibit asubstantially greater half-life in vivo than the unfused counterpart.Also, a fusion to an Fc region allows for dimerization/multimerizationof the fusion polypeptide. The Fc region may be a naturally occurring Fcregion, or may be altered to improve certain qualities, such astherapeutic qualities, circulation time, reduce aggregation, etc.

Identity and similarity of related nucleic acid molecules andpolypeptides can be readily calculated by known methods. Such methodsinclude, but are not limited to, those described in ComputationalMolecular Biology, Lesk, A. M., ed., Oxford University Press, New York,1988; Biocomputing: Informatics and Genome Projects, Smith, D. W., ed.,Academic Press, New York, 1993; Computer Analysis of Sequence Data, Part1, Griffin, A. M., and Griffin, H. G., eds., Humana Press, New Jersey,1994; Sequence Analysis in Molecular Biology, von Heinje, G., AcademicPress, 1987; Sequence Analysis Primer, Gribskov, M. and Devereux, J.,eds., M. Stockton Press, New York, 1991; and Carillo et al., SIAM J.Applied Math., 48:1073 (1988).

Preferred methods to determine identity and/or similarity are designedto give the largest match between the sequences tested. Methods todetermine identity and similarity are described in publicly availablecomputer programs. Preferred computer program methods to determineidentity and similarity between two sequences include, but are notlimited to, the GCG program package, including GAP (Devereux et al.,Nucl. Acid. Res., 12:387 (1984); Genetics Computer Group, University ofWisconsin, Madison, Wis.), BLASTP, BLASTN, and FASTA (Altschul et al.,J. Mol. Biol., 215:403-410 (1990)). The BLASTX program is publiclyavailable from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)and other sources (BLAST Manual, Altschul et al. NCB/NLM/NIH Bethesda,Md. 20894; Altschul et al., supra). The well known Smith Watermanalgorithm may also be used to determine identity.

Certain alignment schemes for aligning two amino acid sequences mayresult in the matching of only a short region of the two sequences, andthis small aligned region may have very high sequence identity eventhough there is no significant relationship between the two full lengthsequences. Accordingly, in a preferred embodiment, the selectedalignment method (GAP program) will result in an alignment that spans atleast 50 contiguous amino acids of the target polypeptide.

For example, using the computer algorithm GAP (Genetics Computer Group,University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.), two polypeptides for which thepercent sequence identity is to be determined are aligned for optimalmatching of their respective amino acids (the “matched span”, asdetermined by the algorithm). A gap opening penalty (which is calculatedas 3× the average diagonal; the “average diagonal” is the average of thediagonal of the comparison matrix being used; the “diagonal” is thescore or number assigned to each perfect amino acid match by theparticular comparison matrix) and a gap extension penalty (which isusually 1/10 times the gap opening penalty), as well as a comparisonmatrix such as PAM 250 or BLOSUM 62 are used in conjunction with thealgorithm. A standard comparison matrix (see Dayhoff et al., Atlas ofProtein Sequence and Structure, vol. 5, supp.3 (1978) for the PAM 250comparison matrix; Henikoff et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci USA,89:10915-10919 (1992) for the BLOSUM 62 comparison matrix) is also usedby the algorithm.

Preferred parameters for a polypeptide sequence comparison include thefollowing:

-   -   Algorithm: Needleman et al., J. Mol. Biol., 48:443-453 (1970);    -   Comparison matrix: BLOSUM 62 from Henikoff et al., Proc. Natl.        Acad. Sci. USA, 89:10915-10919 (1992);    -   Gap Penalty: 12    -   Gap Length Penalty: 4    -   Threshold of Similarity: 0

The GAP program is useful with the above parameters. The aforementionedparameters are the default parameters for polypeptide comparisons (alongwith no penalty for end gaps) using the GAP algorithm.

Preferred parameters for nucleic acid molecule sequence comparisonsinclude the following:

-   -   Algorithm: Needleman et al., J. Mol. Biol., 48:443-453 (1970);    -   Comparison matrix: matches=+10, mismatch=0    -   Gap Penalty: 50    -   Gap Length Penalty: 3

The GAP program is also useful with the above parameters. Theaforementioned parameters are the default parameters for nucleic acidmolecule comparisons.

Other exemplary algorithms, gap opening penalties, gap extensionpenalties, comparison matrices, thresholds of similarity, etc. may beused, including those set forth in the Program Manual, WisconsinPackage, Version 9, September, 1997. The particular choices to be madewill be apparent to those of skill in the art and will depend on thespecific comparison to be made, such as DNA to DNA, protein to protein,protein to DNA; and additionally, whether the comparison is betweengiven pairs of sequences (in which case GAP or BestFit are generallypreferred) or between one sequence and a large database of sequences (inwhich case FASTA or BLASTA are preferred).

Synthesis

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art the nucleic acid andpolypeptide molecules described herein may be produced by recombinantand other means.

Nucleic Acid Molecules

The nucleic acid molecules encode a polypeptide comprising the aminoacid sequence of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide can readily beobtained in a variety of ways including, without limitation, chemicalsynthesis, cDNA or genomic library screening, expression libraryscreening and/or PCR amplification of cDNA.

Recombinant DNA methods used herein are generally those set forth inSambrook et al., Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual, Cold SpringHarbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. (1989), and/or Ausubelet al., eds., Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Green PublishersInc. and Wiley and Sons, NY (1994). The present invention provides fornucleic acid molecules as described herein and methods for obtaining themolecules.

A gene or cDNA encoding a IL-17 receptor like polypeptide or fragmentthereof may be obtained by hybridization screening of a genomic or cDNAlibrary, or by PCR amplification. Where a gene encoding the amino acidsequence of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide has been identified fromone species, all or a portion of that gene may be used as a probe toidentify corresponding genes from other species (orthologs) or relatedgenes from the same species. The probes or primers may be used to screencDNA libraries from various tissue sources believed to express the IL-17receptor like polypeptide. In addition, part or all of a nucleic acidmolecule having the sequence as set forth in any of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ IDNO:4, OR SEQ ID NO:6, including combinations thereof may be used toscreen a genomic library to identify and isolate a gene encoding theamino acid sequence of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. Typically,conditions of moderate or high stringency will be employed for screeningto minimize the number of false positives obtained from the screen.

Nucleic acid molecules encoding the amino acid sequence of IL-17receptor like polypeptides may also be identified by expression cloningwhich employs the detection of positive clones based upon a property ofthe expressed protein. Typically, nucleic acid libraries are screened bythe binding of an antibody or other binding partner (e.g., receptor orligand) to cloned proteins which are expressed and displayed on a hostcell surface. The antibody or binding partner is modified with adetectable label to identify those cells expressing the desired clone.

Recombinant expression techniques conducted in accordance with thedescriptions set forth below may be followed to produce thesepolynucleotides and to express the encoded polypeptides. For example, byinserting a nucleic acid sequence which encodes the amino acid sequenceof an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide into an appropriate vector, oneskilled in the art can readily produce large quantities of the desirednucleotide sequence. The sequences can then be used to generatedetection probes or amplification primers. Alternatively, apolynucleotide encoding the amino acid sequence of an IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide can be inserted into an expression vector. Byintroducing the expression vector into an appropriate host, the encodedIL-17 receptor like polypeptide may be produced in large amounts.

Another method for obtaining a suitable nucleic acid sequence is thepolymerase chain reaction (PCR). In this method, cDNA is prepared frompoly(A)+RNA or total RNA using the enzyme reverse transcriptase. Twoprimers, typically complementary to two separate regions of cDNA(oligonucleotides) encoding the amino acid sequence of an IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide, are then added to the cDNA along with a polymerasesuch as Taq polymerase, and the polymerase amplifies the cDNA regionbetween the two primers.

Another means of preparing a nucleic acid molecule encoding the aminoacid sequence of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, including afragment or varaint, is chemical synthesis using methods well known tothe skilled artisan such as those described by Engels et al., Angew.Chem. Intl. Ed., 28:716-734 (1989). These methods include, inter alia,the phosphotriester, phosphoramidite, and H-phosphonate methods fornucleic acid synthesis. A preferred method for such chemical synthesisis polymer-supported synthesis using standard phosphoramidite chemistry.Typically, the DNA encoding the amino acid sequence of an IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide will be several hundred nucleotides in length. Nucleicacids larger than about 100 nucleotides can be synthesized as severalfragments using these methods. The fragments can then be ligatedtogether to form the full length nucleotide sequence of an IL-17receptor like polypeptide. Usually, the DNA fragment encoding the aminoterminus of the polypeptide will have an ATG, which encodes a methionineresidue. This methionine may or may not be present on the mature form ofthe IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, depending on whether thepolypeptide produced in the host cell is designed to be secreted fromthat cell. Other methods known to the skilled artisan may be used aswell.

In some cases, it may be desirable to prepare nucleic acid moleculesencoding IL-17 receptor like polypeptide variants. Nucleic acidmolecules encoding variants may be produced using site directedmutagenesis, PCR amplification, or other appropriate methods, where theprimer(s) have the desired point mutations (see Sambrook et al., supra,and Ausubel et al., supra, for descriptions of mutagenesis techniques).Chemical synthesis using methods described by Engels et al., supra, mayalso be used to prepare such variants. Other methods known to theskilled artisan may be used as well.

In certain embodiments, nucleic acid variants contain codons which havebeen altered for the optimal expression of an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide in a given host cell. Particular codon alterations willdepend upon the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide(s) and host cell(s)selected for expression. Such “codon optimization” can be carried out bya variety of methods, for example, by selecting codons which arepreferred for use in highly expressed genes in a given host cell.Computer algorithms which incorporate codon frequency tables such as“Ecohigh.cod” for codon preference of highly expressed bacterial genesmay be used and are provided by the University of Wisconsin PackageVersion 9.0, Genetics Computer Group, Madison, Wis. Other useful codonfrequency tables include “Celegans_high.cod”, “Celegans_low.cod”,“Drosophila_high.cod”, “Human_high.cod”, “Maize_high.cod”, and“Yeast_high.cod”.

In other embodiments, nucleic acid molecules encode IL-17 receptor likevariants with conservative amino acid substitutions as described herein,IL-17 receptor like variants comprising an addition and/or a deletion ofone or more N-linked or O-linked glycosylation sites, IL-17 receptorlike variants having deletions and/or substitutions of one or morecysteine residues, or IL-17 receptor like polypeptide fragments asdescribed herein. In addition, nucleic acid molecules may encode anycombination of IL-17 receptor like variants, fragments, and fusionpolypeptides described herein.

Vectors and Host Cells

A nucleic acid molecule encoding the amino acid sequence of an IL-17receptor like polypeptide may be inserted into an appropriate expressionvector using standard ligation techniques. The vector is typicallyselected to be functional in the particular host cell employed (i.e.,the vector is compatible with the host cell machinery such thatamplification of the gene and/or expression of the gene can occur). Anucleic acid molecule encoding the amino acid sequence of an IL-17receptor like polypeptide may be amplified/expressed in prokaryotic,yeast, insect (baculovirus systems), and/or eukaryotic host cells.Selection of the host cell will depend in part on whether an IL-17receptor like polypeptide is to be post-translationally modified (e.g.,glycosylated and/or phosphorylated). If so, yeast, insect, or mammalianhost cells are preferable. For a review of expression vectors, see Meth.Enz., v.185, D. V. Goeddel, ed. Academic Press Inc., San Diego, Calif.(1990).

Typically, expression vectors used in any of the host cells will containsequences for plasmid maintenance and for cloning and expression ofexogenous nucleotide sequences. Such sequences, collectively referred toas “flanking sequences” in certain embodiments will typically includeone or more of the following nucleotide sequences: a promoter, one ormore enhancer sequences, an origin of replication, a transcriptionaltermination sequence, a complete intron sequence containing a donor andacceptor splice site, a sequence encoding a leader sequence forpolypeptide secretion, a ribosome binding site, a polyadenylationsequence, a polylinker region for inserting the nucleic acid encodingthe polypeptide to be expressed, and a selectable marker element. Eachof these sequences is discussed below.

Optionally, the vector may contain a “tag”-encoding sequence, i.e., anoligonucleotide molecule located at the 5′ or 3′ end of the IL-17receptor like polypeptide coding sequence; the oligonucleotide sequenceencodes polyHis (such as hexaHis), or other “tag” such as FLAG, HA(hemaglutinin Influenza virus) or myc for which commercially availableantibodies exist. This tag is typically fused to the polypeptide uponexpression of the polypeptide, and can serve as a means for affinitypurification of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide from the host cell.Affinity purification can be accomplished, for example, by columnchromatography using antibodies against the tag as an affinity matrix.Optionally, the tag can subsequently be removed from the purified IL-17receptor like polypeptide by various means such as using certainpeptidases for cleavage.

Flanking sequences may be homologous (i.e., from the same species and/orstrain as the host cell), heterologous (i.e., from a species other thanthe host cell species or strain), hybrid (i.e., a combination offlanking sequences from more than one source) or synthetic, or theflanking sequences may be native sequences which normally function toregulate IL-17 receptor like polypeptide expression. As such, the sourceof a flanking sequence may be any prokaryotic or eukaryotic organism,any vertebrate or invertebrate organism, or any plant, provided that theflanking sequence is functional in, and can be activated by, the hostcell machinery.

The flanking sequences useful in the vectors of this invention may beobtained by any of several methods well known in the art. Typically,flanking sequences useful herein other than the IL-17 receptor like geneflanking sequences will have been previously identified by mappingand/or by restriction endonuclease digestion and can thus be isolatedfrom the proper tissue source using the appropriate restrictionendonucleases. In some cases, the full nucleotide sequence of a flankingsequence may be known. Here, the flanking sequence may be synthesizedusing the methods described herein for nucleic acid synthesis orcloning.

Where all or only a portion of the flanking sequence is known, it may beobtained using PCR and/or by screening a genomic library with suitableoligonucleotide and/or flanking sequence fragments from the same oranother species. Where the flanking sequence is not known, a fragment ofDNA containing a flanking sequence may be isolated from a larger pieceof DNA that may contain, for example, a coding sequence or even anothergene or genes. Isolation may be accomplished by restriction endonucleasedigestion to produce the proper DNA fragment followed by isolation usingagarose gel purification, Qiagen® column chromatography (Chatsworth,Calif.), or other methods known to the skilled artisan. The selection ofsuitable enzymes to accomplish this purpose will be readily apparent toone of ordinary skill in the art.

An origin of replication is typically a part of those prokaryoticexpression vectors purchased commercially, and the origin aids in theamplification of the vector in a host cell. Amplification of the vectorto a certain copy number can, in some cases, be important for theoptimal expression of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. If the vectorof choice does not contain an origin of replication site, one may bechemically synthesized based on a known sequence, and ligated into thevector. For example, the origin of replication from the plasmid pBR322(Product No. 303-3s, New England Biolabs, Beverly, Mass.) is suitablefor most Gram-negative bacteria and various origins (e.g., SV40,polyoma, adenovirus, vesicular stomatitus virus (VSV) orpapillomaviruses such as HPV or BPV) are useful for cloning vectors inmammalian cells. Generally, the origin of replication component is notneeded for mammalian expression vectors (for example, the SV40 origin isoften used only because it contains the early promoter).

A transcription termination sequence is typically located 3′ of the endof a polypeptide coding region and serves to terminate transcription.Usually, a transcription termination sequence in prokaryotic cells is aG-C rich fragment followed by a poly T sequence. While the sequence iseasily cloned from a library or even purchased commercially as part of avector, it can also be readily synthesized using methods for nucleicacid synthesis such as those described herein.

A selectable marker gene element encodes a protein necessary for thesurvival and growth of a host cell grown in a selective culture medium.Typical selection marker genes encode proteins that (a) conferresistance to antibiotics or other toxins, e.g., ampicillin,tetracycline, or kanamycin for prokaryotic host cells, (b) complementauxotrophic deficiencies of the cell; or (c) supply critical nutrientsnot available from complex media. Preferred selectable markers are thekanamycin resistance gene, the ampicillin resistance gene, and thetetracycline resistance gene. A neomycin resistance gene may also beused for selection in prokaryotic and eukaryotic host cells.

Other selection genes may be used to amplify the gene which will beexpressed. Amplification is the process wherein genes which are ingreater demand for the production of a protein critical for growth arereiterated in tandem within the chromosomes of successive generations ofrecombinant cells. Examples of suitable selectable markers for mammaliancells include dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and thymidine kinase. Themammalian cell transformants are placed under selection pressure whichonly the transformants are uniquely adapted to survive by virtue of theselection gene present in the vector. Selection pressure is imposed byculturing the transformed cells under conditions in which theconcentration of selection agent in the medium is successively changed,thereby leading to the amplification of both the selection gene and theDNA that encodes an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. As a result,increased quantities of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide are synthesizedfrom the amplified DNA.

A ribosome binding site is usually necessary for translation initiationof mRNA and is characterized by a Shine-Dalgarno sequence (prokaryotes)or a Kozak sequence (eukaryotes). The element is typically located 3′ tothe promoter and 5′ to the coding sequence of an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide to be expressed. The Shine-Dalgarno sequence is varied butis typically a polypurine (i.e., having a high A-G content). ManyShine-Dalgarno sequences have been identified, each of which can bereadily synthesized using methods set forth herein and used in aprokaryotic vector.

A leader, or signal, sequence may be used to direct an IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide out of the host cell. Typically, a nucleotide sequenceencoding the signal sequence is positioned in the coding region of anIL-17 receptor like nucleic acid molecule, or directly at the 5′ end ofan IL-17 receptor like polypeptide coding region. Many signal sequenceshave been identified, and any of those that are functional in theselected host cell may be used in conjunction with an IL-17 receptorlike nucleic acid molecule. Therefore, a signal sequence may behomologous (naturally occurring such as amino acids 1 to 14 of SEQ IDNOS: 2 and 5) or heterologous to an IL-17 receptor like gene or cDNA.Additionally, a signal sequence may be chemically synthesized usingmethods described herein. In most cases, the secretion of an IL-17receptor like polypeptide from the host cell via the presence of asignal peptide will result in the removal of the signal peptide from thesecreted IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. The signal sequence may be acomponent of the vector, or it may be a part of an IL-17 receptor likenucleic acid molecule that is inserted into the vector.

Included within the scope of this invention is the use of either anucleotide sequence encoding a native IL-17 receptor like polypeptidesignal sequence joined to an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide codingregion or a nucleotide sequence encoding a heterologous signal sequencejoined to an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide coding region. Theheterologous signal sequence selected should be one that is recognizedand processed, i.e., cleaved by a signal peptidase, by the host cell.For prokaryotic host cells that do not recognize and process the nativeIL-17 receptor like polypeptide signal sequence, the signal sequence issubstituted by a prokaryotic signal sequence selected, for example, fromthe group of the alkaline phosphatase, penicillinase, or heat-stableenterotoxin II leaders. For yeast secretion, the native IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide signal sequence may be substituted by the yeastinvertase, alpha factor, or acid phosphatase leaders. In mammalian cellexpression the native signal sequence is satisfactory, although othermammalian signal sequences may be suitable.

In some cases, such as where glycosylation is desired in a eukaryotichost cell expression system, one may manipulate the various presequencesto improve glycosylation or yield. For example, one may alter thepeptidase cleavage site of a particular signal peptide, or addpresequences, which also may affect glycosylation. The final proteinproduct may have, in the −1 position (relative to the first amino acidof the mature protein) one or more additional amino acids incident toexpression, which may not have been totally removed. For example, thefinal protein product may have one or two amino acid residues found inthe peptidase cleavage site, attached to the N-terminus. Alternatively,use of some enzyme cleavage sites may result in a slightly truncatedform of the desired IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, if the enzyme cutsat such area within the mature polypeptide.

In many cases, transcription of a nucleic acid molecule is increased bythe presence of one or more introns in the vector; this is particularlytrue where a polypeptide is produced in eukaryotic host cells,especially mammalian host cells. The introns used may be naturallyoccurring within the IL-17 receptor like gene, especially where the geneused is a full length genomic sequence or a fragment thereof. Where theintron is not naturally occurring within the gene (as for most cDNAs),the intron(s) may be obtained from another source. The position of theintron with respect to flanking sequences and the IL-17 receptor likegene is generally important, as the intron must be transcribed to beeffective. Thus, when an IL-17 receptor like cDNA molecule is beingtranscribed, the preferred position for the intron is 3′ to thetranscription start site, and 5′ to the polyA transcription terminationsequence. Preferably, the intron or introns will be located on one sideor the other (i.e., 5′ or 3′) of the cDNA such that it does notinterrupt the coding sequence. Any intron from any source, including anyviral, prokaryotic and eukaryotic (plant or animal) organisms, may beused to practice this invention, provided that it is compatible with thehost cell(s) into which it is inserted. Also included herein aresynthetic introns. Optionally, more than one intron may be used in thevector.

The expression and cloning vectors of the present invention will eachtypically contain a promoter that is recognized by the host organism andoperably linked to the molecule encoding a IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide. Promoters are untranscribed sequences located upstream (5′)to the start codon of a structural gene (generally within about 100 to1000 bp) that control the transcription of the structural gene.Promoters are conventionally grouped into one of two classes, induciblepromoters and constitutive promoters. Inducible promoters initiateincreased levels of transcription from DNA under their control inresponse to some change in culture conditions, such as the presence orabsence of a nutrient or a change in temperature. Constitutivepromoters, on the other hand, initiate continual gene productproduction; that is, there is little or no control over gene expression.A large number of promoters, recognized by a variety of potential hostcells, are well known. A suitable promoter is operably linked to the DNAencoding an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide by removing the promoterfrom the source DNA by restriction enzyme digestion and inserting thedesired promoter sequence into the vector. The native IL-17 receptorlike gene promoter sequence may be used to direct amplification and/orexpression of an IL-17 receptor like nucleic acid molecule. Aheterologous promoter is preferred, however, if it permits greatertranscription and higher yields of the expressed protein as compared tothe native promoter, and if it is compatible with the host cell systemthat has been selected for use.

Promoters suitable for use with prokaryotic hosts include thebeta-lactamase and lactose promoter systems; alkaline phosphatase, atryptophan (trp) promoter system; and hybrid promoters such as the tacpromoter. Other known bacterial promoters are also suitable. Theirsequences have been published, thereby enabling one skilled in the artto ligate them to the desired DNA sequence(s), using linkers or adaptersas needed to supply any useful restriction sites.

Suitable promoters for use with yeast hosts are also well known in theart. Yeast enhancers are advantageously used with yeast promoters.Suitable promoters for use with mammalian host cells are well known andinclude, but are not limited to, those obtained from the genomes ofviruses such as polyoma virus, fowlpox virus, adenovirus (such asAdenovirus 2), bovine papilloma virus, avian sarcoma virus,cytomegalovirus (CMV), a retrovirus, hepatitis-B virus and mostpreferably Simian Virus 40 (SV40). Other suitable mammalian promotersinclude heterologous mammalian promoters, e.g., heat-shock promoters andthe actin promoter.

Additional promoters which may be of interest in controlling IL-17receptor like gene transcription include, but are not limited to: theSV40 early promoter region (Bernoist and Chambon, Nature, 290:304-310,1981); the CMV promoter; the promoter contained in the 3′ long terminalrepeat of Rous sarcoma virus (Yamamoto et al., Cell, 22:787-797, 1980);the herpes thymidine kinase promoter (Wagner et al., Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. USA, 78:144-1445, 1981); the regulatory sequences of themetallothionine gene (Brinster et al., Nature, 296:39-42, 1982);prokaryotic expression vectors such as the beta-lactamase promoter(Villa-Kamaroff, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 75:3727-3731,1978); or the tac promoter (DeBoer, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,80:21-25, 1983). Also of interest are the following animaltranscriptional control regions, which exhibit tissue specificity andhave been utilized in transgenic animals: the elastase I gene controlregion which is active in pancreatic acinar cells (Swift et al., Cell,38:639-646, 1984; Ornitz et al., Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol.,50:399-409 (1986); MacDonald, Hepatology, 7:425-515, 1987); the insulingene control region which is active in pancreatic beta cells (Hanahan,Nature, 315:115-122, 1985); the immunoglobulin gene control region whichis active in lymphoid cells (Grosschedl et al., Cell, 38:647-658 (1984);Adames et al., Nature, 318:533-538 (1985); Alexander et al., Mol. Cell.Biol., 7:1436-1444, 1987); the mouse mammary tumor virus control regionwhich is active in testicular, breast, lymphoid and mast cells (Leder etal., Cell, 45:485-495, 1986); the albumin gene control region which isactive in liver (Pinkert et al., Genes and Devel., 1:268-276, 1987); thealphafetoprotein gene control region which is active in liver (Krumlaufet al., Mol. Cell. Biol., 5:1639-1648, 1985; Hammer et al., Science,235:53-58, 1987); the alpha 1-antitrypsin gene control region which isactive in the liver (Kelsey et al., Genes and Devel., 1:161-171, 1987);the beta-globin gene control region which is active in myeloid cells(Mogram et al., Nature, 315:338-340, 1985; Kollias et al., Cell,46:89-94, 1986); the myelin basic protein gene control region which isactive in oligodendrocyte cells in the brain (Readhead et al., Cell,48:703-712, 1987); the myosin light chain-2 gene control region which isactive in skeletal muscle (Sani, Nature, 314:283-286, 1985); and thegonadotropic releasing hormone gene control region which is active inthe hypothalamus (Mason et al., Science, 234:1372-1378, 1986).

An enhancer sequence may be inserted into the vector to increase thetranscription of a DNA encoding an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide ofthe present invention by higher eukaryotes. Enhancers are cis-actingelements of DNA, usually about 10-300 bp in length, that act on thepromoter to increase transcription. Enhancers are relatively orientationand position independent. They have been found 5′ and 3′ to thetranscription unit. Several enhancer sequences available from mammaliangenes are known (e.g., globin, elastase, albumin, alpha-feto-protein andinsulin). Typically, however, an enhancer from a virus will be used. TheSV40 enhancer, the cytomegalovirus early promoter enhancer, the polyomaenhancer, and adenovirus enhancers are exemplary enhancing elements forthe activation of eukaryotic promoters. While an enhancer may be splicedinto the vector at a position 5′ or 3′ to an IL-17 receptor like nucleicacid molecule, it is typically located at a site 5′ from the promoter.

Expression vectors of the invention may be constructed from a startingvector such as a commercially available vector. Such vectors may or maynot contain all of the desired flanking sequences. Where one or more ofthe desired flanking sequences are not already present in the vector,they may be individually obtained and ligated into the vector. Methodsused for obtaining each of the flanking sequences are well known to oneskilled in the art.

Preferred vectors for practicing this invention are those which arecompatible with bacterial, insect, and mammalian host cells. Suchvectors include, inter alia, PCRII, pCR3, and pcDNA3.1 (InvitrogenCompany, Carlsbad, Calif.), pBSII (Stratagene Company, La Jolla,Calif.), pET15□ (Novagen, Madison, Wis.), pGEX (Pharmacia Biotech,Piscataway, N.J.), pEGFP-N2 (Clontech, Palo Alto, Calif.), pETL(BlueBacII; Invitrogen), pDSR-alpha (PCT Publication No. WO90/14363) andpFastBacDual (Gibco/BRL, Grand Island, N.Y.).

Additional suitable vectors include, but are not limited to, cosmids,plasmids or modified viruses, but it will be appreciated that the vectorsystem must be compatible with the selected host cell. Such vectorsinclude, but are not limited to plasmids such as BLUESCRIPT® plasmidderivatives (a high copy number ColE1-based phagemid, Stratagene CloningSystems Inc., La Jolla Calif.), PCR cloning plasmids designed forcloning Taq-amplified PCR products (e.g., TOPO™ TA Cloning® Kit, PCR2.1®plasmid derivatives, Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif.), and mammalian,yeast, or virus vectors such as a baculovirus expression system (pBacPAKplasmid derivatives, Clontech, Palo Alto, Calif.). The recombinantmolecules can be introduced into host cells via transformation,transfection, infection, or other known techniques.

After the vector has been constructed and a nucleic acid moleculeencoding an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide has been inserted into theproper site of the vector, the completed vector may be inserted into asuitable host cell for amplification and/or polypeptide expression. Thetransformation of an expression vector for an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide into a selected host cell may be accomplished by well knownmethods including methods such as transfection, infection, calciumchloride, electroporation, microinjection, lipofection or theDEAE-dextran method or other known techniques. The method selected willin part be a function of the type of host cell to be used. These methodsand other suitable methods are well known to the skilled artisan, andare set forth, for example, in Sambrook et al., supra.

Host cells may be prokaryotic host cells (such as E. coli) or eukaryotichost cells (such as a yeast cell, an insect cell or a vertebrate cell).The host cell, when cultured under appropriate conditions, synthesizesan IL-17 receptor like polypeptide which can subsequently be collectedfrom the culture medium (if the host cell secretes it into the medium)or directly from the host cell producing it (if it is not secreted). Theselection of an appropriate host cell will depend upon various factors,such as desired expression levels, polypeptide modifications that aredesirable or necessary for activity, such as glycosylation orphosphorylation, and ease of folding into a biologically activemolecule.

A number of suitable host cells are known in the art and many areavailable from the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), 10801University Boulevard, Manassas, Va. 20110-2209. Examples include, butare not limited to, mammalian cells, such as Chinese hamster ovary cells(CHO) (ATCC No. CCL61) CHO DHFR-cells (Urlaub et al., Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci. USA, 97:4216-4220 (1980)), human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 or 293Tcells (ATCC No. CRL1573), or 3T3 cells (ATCC No. CCL92). The selectionof suitable mammalian host cells and methods for transformation,culture, amplification, screening and product production andpurification are known in the art. Other suitable mammalian cell lines,are the monkey COS-1 (ATCC No. CRL1650) and COS-7 cell lines (ATCC No.CRL1651), and the CV-1 cell line (ATCC No. CCL70). Further exemplarymammalian host cells include primate cell lines and rodent cell lines,including transformed cell lines. Normal diploid cells, cell strainsderived from in vitro culture of primary tissue, as well as primaryexplants, are also suitable. Candidate cells may be genotypicallydeficient in the selection gene, or may contain a dominantly actingselection gene. Other suitable mammalian cell lines include but are notlimited to, mouse neuroblastoma N2A cells, HeLa, mouse L-929 cells, 3T3lines derived from Swiss, Balb-c or NIH mice, BHK or HaK hamster celllines, which are available from the ATCC. Each of these cell lines isknown by and available to those skilled in the art of proteinexpression.

Similarly useful as host cells suitable for the present invention arebacterial cells. For example, the various strains of E. coli (e.g.,HB101, (ATCC No. 33694) DH5α, DH10, and MC1061 (ATCC No. 53338)) arewell-known as host cells in the field of biotechnology. Various strainsof B. subtilis, Pseudomonas spp., other Bacillus spp., Streptomycesspp., and the like may also be employed in this method.

Many strains of yeast cells known to those skilled in the art are alsoavailable as host cells for the expression of the polypeptides of thepresent invention. Preferred yeast cells include, for example,Saccharomyces cerivisae and Pichia pastoris.

Additionally, where desired, insect cell systems may be utilized in themethods of the present invention. Such systems are described for examplein Kitts et al., Biotechniques, 14:810-817 (1993); Lucklow, Curr. Opin.Biotechnol., 4:564-572 (1993); and Lucklow et al. (J. Virol.,67:4566-4579 (1993). Preferred insect cells are Sf-9 and Hi5(Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif.).

One may also use transgenic animals to express glycosylated IL-17receptor like polypeptides. For example, one may use a transgenicmilk-producing animal (a cow or goat, for example) and obtain thepresent glycosylated polypeptide in the animal milk. One may also useplants to produce IL-17 receptor like polypeptides, however, in general,the glycosylation occurring in plants is different from that produced inmammalian cells, and may result in a glycosylated product which is notsuitable for human therapeutic use.

Polypeptide Production

Host cells comprising an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide expressionvector may be cultured using standard media well known to the skilledartisan. The media will usually contain all nutrients necessary for thegrowth and survival of the cells. Suitable media for culturing E. colicells include, for example, Luria Broth (LB) and/or Terrific Broth (TB).Suitable media for culturing eukaryotic cells include Roswell ParkMemorial Institute medium 1640 (RPMI 1640), Minimal Essential Medium(MEM) and/or Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM), all of which maybe supplemented with serum and/or growth factors as indicated by theparticular cell line being cultured. A suitable medium for insectcultures is Grace's medium supplemented with yeastolate, lactalbuminhydrolysate and/or fetal calf serum, as necessary.

Typically, an antibiotic or other compound useful for selective growthof transformed cells is added as a supplement to the media. The compoundto be used will be dictated by the selectable marker element present onthe plasmid with which the host cell was transformed. For example, wherethe selectable marker element is kanamycin resistance, the compoundadded to the culture medium will be kanamycin. Other compounds forselective growth include ampicillin, tetracycline, and neomycin.

The amount of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide produced by a host cellcan be evaluated using standard methods known in the art. Such methodsinclude, without limitation, Western blot analysis, SDS-polyacrylamidegel electrophoresis, non-denaturing gel electrophoresis, highperformance liquid chromatography (HPLC) separation,immunoprecipitation, and/or activity assays such as DNA binding gelshift assays.

If an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide has been designed to be secretedfrom the host cells, the majority of polypeptide may be found in thecell culture medium. If however, the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide isnot secreted from the host cells, it will be present in the cytoplasmand/or the nucleus (for eukaryotic host cells) or in the cytosol (forbacterial host cells). The host cells are typically disruptedmechanically or with a detergent to release the intracellular contentsinto a buffered solution. IL-17 receptor like polypeptide can then beisolated from the solution.

For an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide situated in the host cellcytoplasm and/or the nucleus (for eukaryotic host cells) or in thecytosol (for bacterial host cells), intracellular material (includinginclusion bodies for gram-negative bacteria) can be extracted from thehost cell using any standard technique known to the skilled artisan. Forexample, the host cells can be lysed to release the contents of theperiplasm/cytoplasm by French press, homogenization, and/or sonicationfollowed by centrifugation.

If an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide has formed inclusion bodies in thecytosol, the inclusion bodies can often bind to the inner and/or outercellular membranes and thus will be found primarily in the pelletmaterial after centrifugation. The pellet material can then be treatedat pH extremes or with a chaotropic agent such as a detergent,guanidine, guanidine derivatives, urea, or urea derivatives in thepresence of a reducing agent such as dithiothreitol at alkaline pH ortris carboxyethyl phosphine at acid pH to release, break apart, andsolubilize the inclusion bodies. The IL-17 receptor like polypeptide inits now soluble form can then be analyzed using gel electrophoresis,immunoprecipitation or the like. If it is desired to isolate the IL-17receptor like polypeptide, isolation may be accomplished using standardmethods such as those described herein and in Marston et al., Meth.Enz., 182:264-275 (1990).

In some cases, an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide may not bebiologically active upon isolation. Various methods for “refolding” orconverting the polypeptide to its tertiary structure and generatingdisulfide linkages can be used to restore biological activity. Suchmethods include exposing the solubilized polypeptide to a pH usuallyabove 7 and in the presence of a particular concentration of achaotrope. The selection of chaotrope is very similar to the choicesused for inclusion body solubilization, but usually the chaotrope isused at a lower concentration and is not necessarily the same aschaotropes used for the solubilization. In most cases therefolding/oxidation solution will also contain a reducing agent or thereducing agent plus its oxidized form in a specific ratio to generate aparticular redox potential allowing for disulfide shuffling to occur inthe formation of the protein's cysteine bridge(s). Some of the commonlyused redox couples include cysteine/cystamine, glutathione(GSH)/dithiobis GSH, cupric chloride, dithiothreitol(DTT)/dithiane DTT,and 2-2mercaptoethanol(βME)/dithio-β(ME). A cosolvent may be used toincrease the efficiency of the refolding, and the more common reagentsused for this purpose include glycerol, polyethylene glycol of variousmolecular weights, arginine and the like.

If inclusion bodies are not formed to a significant degree uponexpression of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, then the polypeptidewill be found primarily in the supernatant after centrifugation of thecell homogenate. The polypeptide may be further isolated from thesupernatant using methods such as those described herein.

The purification of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide from solution canbe accomplished using a variety of techniques. If the polypeptide hasbeen synthesized such that it contains a tag such as Hexahistidine(IL-17 receptor like polypeptide/hexaHis) or other small peptide such asFLAG (Eastman Kodak Co., New Haven, Conn.) or myc (Invitrogen, Carlsbad,Calif.) at either its carboxyl or amino terminus, it may essentially bepurified in a one-step process by passing the solution through anaffinity column where the column matrix has a high affinity for the tag.

For example, polyhistidine binds with great affinity and specificity tonickel, thus an affinity column of nickel (such as the Qiagen® nickelcolumns) can be used for purification of IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide/polyHis. See for example, Ausubel et al., eds., CurrentProtocols in Molecular Biology, Section 10.11.8, John Wiley & Sons, NewYork (1993).

Additionally, the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide may be purifiedthrough the use of a monoclonal antibody which is capable ofspecifically recognizing and binding to the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide.

Suitable procedures for purification thus include, without limitation,affinity chromatography, immunoaffinity chromatography, ion exchangechromatography, molecular sieve chromatography, High Performance LiquidChromatography (HPLC), electrophoresis (including native gelelectrophoresis) followed by gel elution, and preparative isoelectricfocusing (“Isoprime” machine/technique, Hoefer Scientific, SanFrancisco, Calif.). In some cases, two or more purification techniquesmay be combined to achieve increased purity.

IL-17 receptor like polypeptides, including fragments, variants and/orderivatives thereof may also be prepared by chemical synthesis methods(such as solid phase peptide synthesis) using techniques known in theart, such as those set forth by Merrifield et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc.,85:2149 (1963), Houghten et al., Proc Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 82:5132(1985), and Stewart and Young, Solid Phase Peptide Synthesis, PierceChemical Co., Rockford, Ill. (1984). Such polypeptides may besynthesized with or without a methionine on the amino terminus.Chemically synthesized IL-17 receptor like polypeptides may be oxidizedusing methods set forth in these references to form disulfide bridges.Chemically synthesized IL-17 receptor like polypeptides are expected tohave comparable biological activity to the corresponding IL-17 receptorlike polypeptides produced recombinantly or purified from naturalsources, and thus may be used interchangeably with a recombinant ornatural IL-17 receptor like polypeptide.

Another means of obtaining an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide is viapurification from biological samples such as source tissues and/orfluids in which the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide is naturally found.Such purification can be conducted using methods for proteinpurification as described herein. The presence of the IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide during purification may be monitored using, forexample, an antibody prepared against recombinantly produced IL-17receptor like polypeptide or peptide fragments thereof.

A number of additional methods for producing nucleic acids andpolypeptides are known in the art, and the methods can be used toproduce polypeptides having specificity for IL-17 receptor like. See forexample, Roberts et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 94:12297-12303(1997), which describes the production of fusion proteins between anmRNA and its encoded peptide. See also Roberts, R., Curr. Opin. Chem.Biol., 3:268-273 (1999). Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,824,469 describesmethods of obtaining oligonucleotides capable of carrying out a specificbiological function. The procedure involves generating a heterogeneouspool of oligonucleotides, each having a 5′ randomized sequence, acentral preselected sequence, and a 3′ randomized sequence. Theresulting heterogeneous pool is introduced into a population of cellsthat do not exhibit the desired biological function. Subpopulations ofthe cells are then screened for those which exhibit a predeterminedbiological function. From that subpopulation, oligonucleotides capableof carrying out the desired biological function are isolated.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,763,192, 5,814,476, 5,723,323, and 5,817,483 describeprocesses for producing peptides or polypeptides. This is done byproducing stochastic genes or fragments thereof, and then introducingthese genes into host cells which produce one or more proteins encodedby the stochastic genes. The host cells are then screened to identifythose clones producing peptides or polypeptides having the desiredactivity.

Another method for producing peptides or polypeptides is described inPCT/US98/20094 (WO99/15650) filed by Athersys, Inc. Known as “RandomActivation of Gene Expression for Gene Discovery” (RAGE-GD), the processinvolves the activation of endogenous gene expression or over-expressionof a gene by in situ recombination methods. For example, expression ofan endogenous gene is activated or increased by integrating a regulatorysequence into the target cell which is capable of activating expressionof the gene by non-homologous or illegitimate recombination. The targetDNA is first subjected to radiation, and a genetic promoter inserted.The promoter eventually locates a break at the front of a gene,initiating transcription of the gene. This results in expression of thedesired peptide or polypeptide.

It will be appreciated that these methods can also be used to createcomprehensive IL-17 receptor like protein expression libraries, whichcan subsequently be used for high throughput phenotypic screening in avariety of assays, such as biochemical assays, cellular assays, andwhole organism assays (e.g., plant, mouse, etc.).

Chemical Derivatives

Chemically modified derivatives of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptidesmay be prepared by one skilled in the art, given the disclosures setforth hereinbelow. IL-17 receptor like polypeptide derivatives aremodified in a manner that is different, either in the type or locationof the molecules naturally attached to the polypeptide. Derivatives mayinclude molecules formed by the deletion of one or morenaturally-attached chemical groups. The polypeptide comprising the aminoacid sequence of any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7,including combinations thereof, or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptidevariant may be modified by the covalent attachment of one or morepolymers. For example, the polymer selected is typically water solubleso that the protein to which it is attached does not precipitate in anaqueous environment, such as a physiological environment. Includedwithin the scope of suitable polymers is a mixture of polymers.Preferably, for therapeutic use of the end-product preparation, thepolymer will be pharmaceutically acceptable.

The polymers each may be of any molecular weight and may be branched orunbranched. The polymers each typically have an average molecular weightof between about 2 kDa to about 100 kDa (the term “about” indicatingthat in preparations of a water soluble polymer, some molecules willweigh more, some less, than the stated molecular weight). The averagemolecular weight of each polymer preferably is between about 5 kDa andabout 50 kDa, more preferably between about 12 kDa and about 40 kDa andmost preferably between about 20 kDa and about 35 kDa.

Suitable water soluble polymers or mixtures thereof include, but are notlimited to, N-linked or O-linked carbohydrates, sugars, phosphates,polyethylene glycol (PEG) (including the forms of PEG that have beenused to derivatize proteins, including mono-(C₁-C₁₀) alkoxy- oraryloxy-polyethylene glycol), monomethoxy-polyethylene glycol, dextran(such as low molecular weight dextran, of, for example about 6 kD),cellulose, or other carbohydrate based polymers, poly-(N-vinylpyrrolidone) polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol homopolymers, apolypropylene oxide/ethylene oxide co-polymer, polyoxyethylated polyols(e.g., glycerol) and polyvinyl alcohol. Also encompassed by the presentinvention are bifunctional crosslinking molecules which may be used toprepare covalently attached multimers of the polypeptide comprising theamino acid sequence of any of SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7,including combinations thereof, or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptidevariant.

In general, chemical derivatization may be performed under any suitablecondition used to react a protein with an activated polymer molecule.Methods for preparing chemical derivatives of polypeptides willgenerally comprise the steps of (a) reacting the polypeptide with theactivated polymer molecule (such as a reactive ester or aldehydederivative of the polymer molecule) under conditions whereby thepolypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of any of SEQ ID NO:2,SEQ ID NO:5, or SEQ ID NO:7, including combinations thereof, or an IL-17receptor like polypeptide variant becomes attached to one or morepolymer molecules, and (b) obtaining the reaction product(s). Theoptimal reaction conditions will be determined based on known parametersand the desired result. For example, the larger the ratio of polymermolecules:protein, the greater the percentage of attached polymermolecule. In one embodiment, the IL-17 receptor like polypeptidederivative may have a single polymer molecule moiety at the aminoterminus. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,784.

The pegylation of the polypeptide specifically may be carried out by anyof the pegylation reactions known in the art, as described for examplein the following references: Francis et al., Focus on Growth Factors,3:4-10 (1992); EP 0154316; EP 0401384 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,179,337. Forexample, pegylation may be carried out via an acylation reaction or analkylation reaction with a reactive polyethylene glycol molecule (or ananalogous reactive water-soluble polymer) as described herein. For theacylation reactions, the polymer(s) selected should have a singlereactive ester group. For reductive alkylation, the polymer(s) selectedshould have a single reactive aldehyde group. A reactive aldehyde is,for example, polyethylene glycol propionaldehyde, which is water stable,or mono C₁-C₁₀ alkoxy or aryloxy derivatives thereof (see U.S. Pat. No.5,252,714).

In another embodiment, IL-17 receptor like polypeptides may bechemically coupled to biotin, and the biotin/IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide molecules which are conjugated are then allowed to bind toavidin, resulting in tetravalent avidin/biotin/IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide molecules. IL-17 receptor like polypeptides may also becovalently coupled to dinitrophenol (DNP) or trinitrophenol (TNP) andthe resulting conjugates precipitated with anti-DNP or anti-TNP-IgM toform decameric conjugates with a valency of 10.

Generally, conditions which may be alleviated or modulated by theadministration of the present IL-17 receptor like polypeptidederivatives include those described herein for IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides. However, the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide derivativesdisclosed herein may have additional activities, enhanced or reducedbiological activity, or other characteristics, such as increased ordecreased half-life, as compared to the non-derivatized molecules.

Genetically Engineered Non-Human Animals

Additionally included within the scope of the present invention arenon-human animals such as mice, rats, or other rodents, rabbits, goats,or sheep, or other farm animals, in which the gene (or genes) encodingthe native IL-17 receptor like polypeptide has (have) been disrupted(“knocked out”) such that the level of expression of this gene or genesis (are) significantly decreased or completely abolished. Such animalsmay be prepared using techniques and methods such as those described inU.S. Pat. No. 5,557,032.

The present invention further includes non-human animals such as mice,rats, or other rodents, rabbits, goats, sheep, or other farm animals, inwhich either the native form of the IL-17 receptor like gene(s) for thatanimal or a heterologous IL-17 receptor like gene(s) is (are)over-expressed by the animal, thereby creating a “transgenic” animal.Such transgenic animals may be prepared using well known methods such asthose described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,489,743 and PCT application No.WO94/28122.

The present invention further includes non-human animals in which thepromoter for one or more of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptides of thepresent invention is either activated or inactivated (e.g., by usinghomologous recombination methods) to alter the level of expression ofone or more of the native IL-17 receptor like polypeptides.

These non-human animals may be used for drug candidate screening. Insuch screening, the impact of a drug candidate on the animal may bemeasured. For example, drug candidates may decrease or increase theexpression of the IL-17 receptor like gene. In certain embodiments, theamount of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, that is produced may bemeasured after the exposure of the animal to the drug candidate.Additionally, in certain embodiments, one may detect the actual impactof the drug candidate on the animal. For example, the overexpression ofa particular gene may result in, or be associated with, a disease orpathological condition. In such cases, one may test a drug candidate'sability to decrease expression of the gene or its ability to prevent orinhibit a pathological condition. In other examples, the production of aparticular metabolic product such as a fragment of a polypeptide, mayresult in, or be associated with, a disease or pathological condition.In such cases, one may test a drug candidate's ability to decrease theproduction of such a metabolic product or its ability to prevent orinhibit a pathological condition.

Microarray

It will be appreciated that DNA microarray technology can be utilized inaccordance with the present invention. DNA microarrays are miniature,high density arrays of nucleic acids positioned on a solid support, suchas glass. Each cell or element within the array has numerous copies of asingle species of DNA which acts as a target for hybridization for itscognate mRNA. In expression profiling using DNA microarray technology,mRNA is first extracted from a cell or tissue sample and then convertedenzymatically to fluorescently labeled cDNA. This material is hybridizedto the microarray and unbound cDNA is removed by washing. The expressionof discrete genes represented on the array is then visualized byquantitating the amount of labeled cDNA which is specifically bound toeach target DNA. In this way, the expression of thousands of genes canbe quantitated in a high throughput, parallel manner from a singlesample of biological material.

This high throughput expression profiling has a broad range ofapplications with respect to the IL-17 receptor like molecules of theinvention, including, but not limited to: the identification andvalidation of IL-17 receptor like disease-related genes as targets fortherapeutics; molecular toxicology of IL-17 receptor like molecules andinhibitors thereof; stratification of populations and generation ofsurrogate markers for clinical trials; and enhancing IL-17 receptorlike-related small molecule drug discovery by aiding in theidentification of selective compounds in high throughput screens (HTS).

Selective Binding Agents

As used herein, the term “selective binding agent” refers to a moleculewhich has specificity for one or more IL-17 receptor like polypeptides.Suitable selective binding agents include, but are not limited to,antibodies and derivatives thereof, polypeptides, and small molecules.Suitable selective binding agents may be prepared using methods known inthe art. An exemplary IL-17 receptor like polypeptide selective bindingagent of the present invention is capable of binding a certain portionof the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide thereby inhibiting the binding ofa ligand such as IL17E of SEQ ID NO: 23 to the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide receptor(s).

Selective binding agents such as antibodies and antibody fragments thatbind IL-17 receptor like polypeptides are within the scope of thepresent invention. The antibodies may be polyclonal includingmonospecific polyclonal, monoclonal (MAbs), recombinant, chimeric,humanized such as CDR-grafted, human, single chain, and/or bispecific,as well as fragments, variants or derivatives thereof. Antibodyfragments include those portions of the antibody which bind to anepitope on the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. Examples of suchfragments include Fab and F(ab′) fragments generated by enzymaticcleavage of full-length antibodies. Other binding fragments includethose generated by recombinant DNA techniques, such as the expression ofrecombinant plasmids containing nucleic acid sequences encoding antibodyvariable regions.

Polyclonal antibodies directed toward an IL-17 receptor like polypeptidegenerally are produced in animals (e.g., rabbits or mice) by means ofmultiple subcutaneous or intraperitoneal injections of IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide and an adjuvant. It may be useful to conjugate an IL-17receptor like polypeptide to a carrier protein that is immunogenic inthe species to be immunized, such as keyhole limpet heocyanin, serum,albumin, bovine thyroglobulin, or soybean trypsin inhibitor. Also,aggregating agents such as alum are used to enhance the immune response.After immunization, the animals are bled and the serum is assayed foranti-IL-17 receptor like polypeptide antibody titer.

Monoclonal antibodies directed toward an IL-17 receptor like polypeptideare produced using any method which provides for the production ofantibody molecules by continuous cell lines in culture. Examples ofsuitable methods for preparing monoclonal antibodies include thehybridoma methods of Kohler et al., Nature, 256:495-497 (1975) and thehuman B-cell hybridoma method, Kozbor, J. Immunol., 133:3001 (1984);Brodeur et al., Monoclonal Antibody Production Techniques andApplications, pp. 51-63 (Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, 1987). Alsoprovided by the invention are hybridoma cell lines which producemonoclonal antibodies reactive with IL-17 receptor like polypeptides.

Monoclonal antibodies of the invention may be modified for use astherapeutics. One embodiment is a “chimeric” antibody in which a portionof the heavy and/or light chain is identical with or homologous to acorresponding sequence in antibodies derived from a particular speciesor belonging to a particular antibody class or subclass, while theremainder of the chain(s) is identical with or homologous to acorresponding sequence in antibodies derived from another species orbelonging to another antibody class or subclass. Also included arefragments of such antibodies, so long as they exhibit the desiredbiological activity. See, U.S. Pat. No. 4,816,567; Morrison et al.,Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 81:6851-6855 (1985).

In another embodiment, a monoclonal antibody of the invention is a“humanized” antibody. Methods for humanizing non-human antibodies arewell known in the art. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,585,089, and 5,693,762.Generally, a humanized antibody has one or more amino acid residuesintroduced into it from a source which is non-human. Humanization can beperformed, for example, using methods described in the art. (See U.S.Pat. Nos. 5,585,089 and 5,693,762). Generally, a humanized antibody hasone or more amino acid residues introduced into it form a source whichis non-human. Humanization can be preformed, for example, using methodsknown in the art (Jones et al., Nature 321:522-525 (1986); Riechmann etal., Nature, 332:323-327 (1988); Verhoeyen et al., Science 239:1534-1536(1988)), by substituting at least a portion of a rodentcomplementarity-determining regions (CDRs) for the corresponding regionsof a human antibody.

Also encompassed by the invention are human antibodies which bind IL-17receptor like polypeptides. Using transgenic animals (e.g., mice) thatare capable of producing a repertoire of human antibodies in the absenceof endogenous immunoglobulin production such antibodies are produced byimmunization with an IL-17 receptor like antigen (i.e., having at least6 contiguous amino acids), optionally conjugated to a carrier. See, forexample, Jakobovits et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 90:2551-2555 (1993);Jakobovits et al., Nature 362:255-258 (1993); Bruggermann et al., Yearin Immuno., 7:33 (1993). In one method, such transgenic animals areproduced by incapacitating the endogenous loci encoding the heavy andlight immunoglobulin chains therein, and inserting loci encoding humanheavy and light chain proteins into the genome thereof. Partiallymodified animals, that is those having less than the full complement ofmodifications, are then cross-bred to obtain an animal having all of thedesired immune system modifications. When administered an immunogen,these transgenic animals produce antibodies with human variable regionsincluding human (rather than e.g., murine) amino acid sequences,including variable regions, including human which are immunospecific forthese antigens. See PCT application nos. PCT/US96/05928 andPCT/US93/06926. Additional methods are described in U.S. Pat. No.5,545,807, PCT application nos. PCT/US91/245, PCT/GB89/01207, and in EP546073B1 and EP 546073A1. Human antibodies may also be produced by theexpression of recombinant DNA in host cells or by expression inhybridoma cells as described herein.

In an alternative embodiment, human antibodies can be produced fromphage-display libraries (Hoogenboom et al., J. Mol. Biol. 227:381(1991); Marks et al., J. Mol. Biol. 222:581 (1991). These processesmimic immune selection through the display of antibody repertoires onthe surface of filamentous bacteriophage, and subsequent selection ofphage by their binding to an antigen of choice. One such technique isdescribed in PCT Application no. PCT/US98/17364, which describes theisolation of high affinity and functional agonistic antibodies for MPL-and msk-receptors using such an approach.

Chimeric, CDR grafted, and humanized antibodies are typically producedby recombinant methods. Nucleic acids encoding the antibodies areintroduced into host cells and expressed using materials and proceduresdescribed herein. In a preferred embodiment, the antibodies are producedin mammalian host cells, such as CHO cells. Monoclonal (e.g., human)antibodies may be produced by the expression of recombinant DNA in hostcells or by expression in hybridoma cells as described herein.

The anti-IL-17 receptor like antibodies of the invention may be employedin any known assay method, such as competitive binding assays, directand indirect sandwich assays, and immunoprecipitation assays (Sola,Monoclonal Antibodies: A Manual of Techniques, pp. 147-158 (CRC Press,Inc., 1987)) for the detection and quantitation of IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides. The antibodies will bind IL-17 receptor like polypeptideswith an affinity which is appropriate for the assay method beingemployed.

For diagnostic applications, in certain embodiments, anti-IL-17 receptorlike antibodies may be labeled with a detectable moiety. The detectablemoiety can be any one which is capable of producing, either directly orindirectly, a detectable signal. For example, the detectable moiety maybe a radioisotope, such as ³H, ¹⁴C, ³²P, ³⁵S, or ¹²⁵I, a fluorescent orchemiluminescent compound, such as fluorescein isothiocyanate,rhodamine, or luciferin; or an enzyme, such as alkaline phosphatase,β-galactosidase, or horseradish peroxidase (Bayer et al., Meth. Enz.,184:138-163 (1990)).

Competitive binding assays rely on the ability of a labeled standard(e.g., an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, or an immunologicallyreactive portion thereof) to compete with the test sample analyte (anIL-17 receptor like polypeptide) for binding with a limited amount ofanti IL-17 receptor like antibody. The amount of an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide in the test sample is inversely proportional to the amountof standard that becomes bound to the antibodies. To facilitatedetermining the amount of standard that becomes bound, the antibodiestypically are insolubilized before or after the competition, so that thestandard and analyte that are bound to the antibodies may convenientlybe separated from the standard and analyte which remain unbound.

Sandwich assays typically involve the use of two antibodies, eachcapable of binding to a different immunogenic portion, or epitope, ofthe protein to be detected and/or quantitated. In a sandwich assay, thetest sample analyte is typically bound by a first antibody which isimmobilized on a solid support, and thereafter a second antibody bindsto the analyte, thus forming an insoluble three part complex. See, e.g.,U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,110. The second antibody may itself be labeled witha detectable moiety (direct sandwich assays) or may be measured using ananti-immunoglobulin antibody that is labeled with a detectable moiety(indirect sandwich assays). For example, one type of sandwich assay isan enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), in which case thedetectable moiety is an enzyme.

The selective binding agents, including anti-IL-17 receptor likeantibodies, also are useful for in vivo imaging. An antibody labeledwith a detectable moiety may be administered to an animal, preferablyinto the bloodstream, and the presence and location of the labeledantibody in the host is assayed. The antibody may be labeled with anymoiety that is detectable in an animal, whether by nuclear magneticresonance, radiology, or other detection means known in the art.

The invention also relates to a kit comprising IL-17 receptor likeselective binding agents (such as antibodies) and other reagents usefulfor detecting IL-17 receptor like polypeptide levels in biologicalsamples. Such reagents may include a secondary activity, a detectablelabel, blocking serum, positive and negative control samples, anddetection reagents

Selective binding agents of the invention, including antibodies, may beused as therapeutics. These therapeutic agents are generally agonists orantagonists, in that they either enhance or reduce, respectively, atleast one of the biological activities of an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide. In one embodiment, antagonist antibodies of the inventionare antibodies or binding fragments thereof which are capable ofspecifically binding to an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide and which arecapable of inhibiting or eliminating the functional activity of an IL-17receptor like polypeptide in vivo or in vitro. In preferred embodiments,the selective binding agent, e.g., an antagonist antibody, will inhibitthe functional activity of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide by atleast about 50%, and preferably by at least about 80%. In anotherembodiment, the selective binding agent may be an anti-IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide antibody that is capable of interacting with an IL-17receptor like binding partner (a ligand or receptor) thereby inhibitingor eliminating IL-17 receptor like activity in vitro or in vivo.Selective binding agents, including agonist and antagonist anti-IL-17receptor like antibodies, are identified by screening assays which arewell known in the art.

The invention also relates to a kit comprising IL-17 receptor likeselective binding agents (such as antibodies) and other reagents usefulfor detecting IL-17 receptor like polypeptide levels in biologicalsamples. Such reagents may include, a detectable label, blocking serum,positive and negative control samples, and detection reagents.

IL-17 receptor like polypeptides can be used to clone IL-17 receptorlike ligand(s) using an “expression cloning” strategy. Radiolabeled(¹²⁵-Iodine) IL-17 receptor like polypeptide or“affinity/activity-tagged” IL-17 receptor like polypeptide (such as anFc fusion or an alkaline phosphatase fusion) can be used in bindingassays to identify a cell type or cell line or tissue that expressesIL-17 receptor like ligand(s). RNA isolated from such cells or tissuescan then be converted to cDNA, cloned into a mammalian expressionvector, and transfected into mammalian cells (for example, COS, or 293)to create an expression library. Radiolabeled or tagged IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide can then be used as an affinity reagent to identify andisolate the subset of cells in this library expressing IL-17 receptorlike ligand(s). DNA is then isolated from these cells and transfectedinto mammalian cells to create a secondary expression library in whichthe fraction of cells expressing IL-17 receptor like ligand(s) would bemany-fold higher than in the original library. This enrichment processcan be repeated iteratively until a single recombinant clone containingan IL-17 receptor like ligand is isolated. Isolation of IL-17 receptorlike ligand(s) is useful for identifying or developing novel agonistsand antagonists of the IL-17 receptor like signaling pathway. Suchagonists and antagonists include IL-17 receptor like ligand(s),anti-IL-17 receptor like ligand antibodies, small molecules, orantisense oligonucleotides.

Assaying for Other Modulators of Il-17 Receptor Like PolypeptideActivity

In some situations, it may be desirable to identify molecules that aremodulators, i.e., agonists or antagonists, of the activity of IL-17receptor like polypeptide. Natural or synthetic molecules that modulateIL-17 receptor like polypeptide may be identified using one or morescreening assays, such as those described herein. Such molecules may beadministered either in an ex vivo manner, or in an in vivo manner byinjection, or by oral delivery, implantation device, or the like.

“Test molecule(s)” refers to the molecule(s) that is/are underevaluation for the ability to modulate (i.e., increase or decrease) theactivity of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. Most commonly, a testmolecule will interact directly with an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide.However, it is also contemplated that a test molecule may also modulateIL-17 receptor like polypeptide activity indirectly, such as byaffecting IL-17 receptor like gene expression, or by binding to an IL-17receptor like binding partner (e.g., receptor or ligand). In oneembodiment, a test molecule will bind to an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide with an affinity constant of at least about 10⁻⁶ M,preferably about 10⁻⁸ M, more preferably about 10⁻⁹ M, and even morepreferably about 10⁻¹⁰ M.

Methods for identifying compounds which interact with IL-17 receptorlike polypeptides are encompassed by the present invention. In certainembodiments, an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide is incubated with a testmolecule under conditions which permit the interaction of the testmolecule with an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, and the extent of theinteraction can be measured. The test molecule(s) can be screened in asubstantially purified form or in a crude mixture. The test moleculescan be nucleic acid molecules, proteins, peptides, carbohydrates,lipids, organic and inorganic compounds.

In certain embodiments, an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide agonist orantagonist may be a protein, peptide, carbohydrate, lipid, or smallmolecular weight molecule which interacts with IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, or ligand thereof, to regulate its activity. Moleculeswhich regulate IL-17 receptor like polypeptide expression includenucleic acids which are complementary to nucleic acids encoding an IL-17receptor like polypeptide, or are complementary to nucleic acidssequences which direct or control the expression of IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, and which act as anti-sense regulators of expression.

Once a set of test molecules has been identified as interacting with anIL-17 receptor like polypeptide, the molecules may be further evaluatedfor their ability to increase or decrease IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide activity. The measurement of the interaction of testmolecules with IL-17 receptor like polypeptides may be carried out inseveral formats, including cell-based binding assays, membrane bindingassays, solution-phase assays and immunoassays. In general, testmolecules are incubated with an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide for aspecified period of time, and IL-17 receptor like polypeptide activityis determined by one or more assays for measuring biological activity.

The interaction of test molecules with IL-17 receptor like polypeptidesmay also be assayed directly using polyclonal or monoclonal antibodiesin an immunoassay. Alternatively, modified forms of IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides containing epitope tags as described herein may be used inimmunoassays.

In certain embodiments, a IL-17 receptor like polypeptide agonist orantagonist may be a protein, peptide, carbohydrate, lipid, or smallmolecular weight molecule which interacts with IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide to regulate its activity. Potential protein antagonists ofIL-17 receptor like polypeptide include antibodies which interact withactive regions of the polypeptide and inhibit or eliminate at least oneactivity of IL-17 receptor like molecules. Molecules which regulateIL-17 receptor like polypeptide expression include nucleic acids whichare complementary to nucleic acids encoding a IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, or are complementary to nucleic acids sequences whichdirect or control the expression of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, andwhich act as anti-sense regulators of expression.

In the event that IL-17 receptor like polypeptides display biologicalactivity through an interaction with a binding partner (e.g., a receptoror a ligand), a variety of in vitro assays may be used to measure thebinding of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide to the correspondingbinding partner (such as a selective binding agent, receptor, or ligand)These assays may be used to screen test molecules for their ability toincrease or decrease the rate and/or the extent of binding of an IL-17receptor like polypeptide to its binding partner. In one assay, an IL-17receptor like polypeptide is immobilized in the wells of a microtiterplate. Radiolabeled IL-17 receptor like binding partner (for example,iodinated IL-17 receptor like binding partner) and the test molecule(s)can then be added either one at a time (in either order) orsimultaneously to the wells. After incubation, the wells can be washedand counted, using a scintillation counter, for radioactivity todetermine the extent to which the binding partner bound to IL-17receptor like polypeptide. Typically, the molecules will be tested overa range of concentrations, and a series of control wells lacking one ormore elements of the test assays can be used for accuracy in theevaluation of the results. An alternative to this method involvesreversing the “positions” of the proteins, i.e., immobilizing IL-17receptor like binding partner to the microtiter plate wells, incubatingwith the test molecule and radiolabeled IL-17 receptor like polypeptide,and determining the extent of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide binding.See, for example, chapter 18, Current Protocols in Molecular Biology,Ausubel et al., eds., John Wiley & Sons, New York, N.Y. (1995).

As an alternative to radiolabelling, an IL-17 receptor like polypeptideor its binding partner may be conjugated to biotin and the presence ofbiotinylated protein can then be detected using streptavidin linked toan enzyme, such as horseradish peroxidase (HRP) or alkaline phosphatase(AP), that can be detected colorometrically, or by fluorescent taggingof streptavidin. An antibody directed to an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide or to an IL-17 receptor like binding partner and conjugatedto biotin may also be used and can be detected after incubation withenzyme-linked streptavidin linked to AP or HRP.

An IL-17 receptor like polypeptide or an IL-17 receptor like bindingpartner can also be immobilized by attachment to agarose beads, acrylicbeads or other types of such inert solid phase substrates. Thesubstrate-protein complex can be placed in a solution containing thecomplementary protein and the test compound. After incubation, the beadscan be precipitated by centrifugation, and the amount of binding betweenan IL-17 receptor like polypeptide and its binding partner can beassessed using the methods described herein. Alternatively, thesubstrate-protein complex can be immobilized in a column, and the testmolecule and complementary protein are passed through the column. Theformation of a complex between an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide andits binding partner can then be assessed using any of the techniques setforth herein, i.e., radiolabelling, antibody binding, or the like.

Another in vitro assay that is useful for identifying a test moleculewhich increases or decreases the formation of a complex between an IL-17receptor like binding protein and an IL-17 receptor like binding partneris a surface plasmon resonance detector system such as the BIAcore assaysystem (Pharmacia, Piscataway, N.J.). The BIAcore system may be carriedout using the manufacturer's protocol. This assay essentially involvesthe covalent binding of either IL-17 receptor like polypeptide or anIL-17 receptor like binding partner to a dextran-coated sensor chipwhich is located in a detector. The test compound and the othercomplementary protein can then be injected, either simultaneously orsequentially, into the chamber containing the sensor chip. The amount ofcomplementary protein that binds can be assessed based on the change inmolecular mass which is physically associated with the dextran-coatedside of the sensor chip; the change in molecular mass can be measured bythe detector system.

In some cases, it may be desirable to evaluate two or more testcompounds together for their ability to increase or decrease theformation of a complex between an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide and anIL-17 receptor like binding partner. In these cases, the assays setforth herein can be readily modified by adding such additional testcompound(s) either simultaneous with, or subsequent to, the first testcompound. The remainder of the steps in the assay are as set forthherein.

In vitro assays such as those described herein may be usedadvantageously to screen large numbers of compounds for effects oncomplex formation by IL-17 receptor like polypeptide and IL-17 receptorlike binding partner. The assays may be automated to screen compoundsgenerated in phage display, synthetic peptide, and chemical synthesislibraries.

Compounds which increase or decrease the formation of a complex betweenan IL-17 receptor like polypeptide and an IL-17 receptor like bindingpartner may also be screened in cell culture using cells and cell linesexpressing either IL-17 receptor like polypeptide or IL-17 receptor likebinding partner. Cells and cell lines may be obtained from any mammal,but preferably will be from human or other primate, canine, or rodentsources. The binding of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide to cellsexpressing IL-17 receptor like binding partner at the surface isevaluated in the presence or absence of test molecules, and the extentof binding may be determined by, for example, flow cytometry using abiotinylated antibody to an IL-17 receptor like binding partner. Cellculture assays can be used advantageously to further evaluate compoundsthat score positive in protein binding assays described herein.

Cell cultures can also be used to screen the impact of a drug candidate.For example, drug candidates may decrease or increase the expression ofthe IL-17 receptor like gene. In certain embodiments, the amount ofIL-17 receptor like polypeptide that is produced may be measured afterexposure of the cell culture to the drug candidate. In certainembodiments, one may detect the actual impact of the drug candidate onthe cell culture. For example, the overexpression of a particular genemay have a particular impact on the cell culture. In such cases, one maytest a drug candidate's ability to increase or decrease the expressionof the gene or its ability to prevent or inhibit a particular impact onthe cell culture. In other examples, the production of a particularmetabolic product such as a fragment of a polypeptide, may result in, orbe associated with, a disease or pathological condition. In such cases,one may test a drug candidate's ability to decrease the production ofsuch a metabolic product in a cell culture.

A yeast two-hybrid system (Chien et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA,88:9578-9583, 1991) can be used to identify novel polypeptides that bindto, or interact with, IL-17 receptor like polypeptides. As an example, ayeast-two hybrid bait construct can be generated in a vector (such asthe pAS2-1 from Clontech) which encodes a yeast GAL4-DNA binding domainfused to the Cdk11 polynucleotide. This bait construct may be used toscreen human cDNA libraries wherein the cDNA library sequences are fusedto GAL4 activation domains. Positive interactions will result in theactivation of a reporter gene such as β-Gal. Positive clones emergingfrom the screening may be characterized further to identify interactingproteins.

Internalizing Proteins

The tat protein sequence (from HIV) can be used to internalize proteinsinto a cell. See e.g., Falwell et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.,91:664-668 (1994). For example, an 11 amino acid sequence (YGRKKRRQRRRSEQ ID NO: 18) of the HIV tat protein (termed the “protein transductiondomain”, or TAT PDT) has been described as mediating delivery across thecytoplasmic membrane and the nuclear membrane of a cell. See Schwarze etal., Science, 285:1569-1572 (1999); and Nagahara et al., NatureMedicine, 4:1449-1452 (1998). In these procedures, FITC-constructs(FITC-GGGGYGRKKRRQRRR SEQ ID NO: 19) are prepared which bind to cells asobserved by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis, andthese constructs penetrate tissues after i.p. adminstration. Next,tat-bgal fusion proteins are constructed. Cells treated with thisconstruct demonstrated β-gal activity. Following injection, a number oftissues, including liver, kidney, lung, heart, and brain tissue havebeen found to demonstrate expression using these procedures. It isbelieved that these constructions underwent some degree of unfolding inorder to enter the cell; as such, refolding may be required afterentering the cell.

It will thus be appreciated that the tat protein sequence may be used tointernalize a desired protein or polypeptide into a cell. For example,using the tat protein sequence, an IL-17 receptor like antagonist (suchas an anti-IL-17 receptor like selective binding agent, small molecule,soluble receptor, or antisense oligonucleotide) can be administeredintracellularly to inhibit the activity of an IL-17 receptor likemolecule. As used herein, the term “IL-17 receptor like molecule” refersto both IL-17 receptor like nucleic acid molecules and IL-17 receptorlike polypeptides as defined herein. Where desired, the IL-17 receptorlike protein itself may also be internally administered to a cell usingthese procedures. See also, Strauss, E., “Introducing Proteins Into theBody's Cells”, Science, 285:1466-1467 (1999).

Cell Source Identification Using IL-17 Receptor Like Polypeptides

In accordance with certain embodiments of the invention, it may beuseful to be able to determine the source of a certain cell typeassociated with an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. For example, it maybe useful to determine the origin of a disease or pathological conditionas an aid in selecting an appropriate therapy.

Therapeutic Uses

A non-exclusive list of acute and chronic diseases which can be treated,diagnosed, ameliorated, or prevented with the IL-17 receptor likenucleic acids, polypeptides, and agonists and antagonists of theinvention include:

-   -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases involving immune        system dysfunction. Examples of such diseases include, but are        not limited to, rheumatoid arthritis, psioriatic arthritis,        inflammatory arthritis, osteoarthritis, inflammatory joint        disease, autoimmune disease including autoimmune vasculitis,        multiple sclerosis, lupus, diabetes (e.g., insulin diabetes),        inflammatory bowel disease, transplant rejection, graft vs. host        disease, and inflammatory conditions resulting from strain,        sprain, cartilage damage, trauma, orthopedic surgery, infection        or other disease processes. Other diseases influenced by the        dysfunction of the immune system are encompassed within the        scope of the invention, including but not limited to, allergies.        The IL-17 receptor like nucleic acids, polypeptides, and        agonists and antagonists of the invention can also be used to        inhibit T cell proliferation, to inhibit T cell activation,        and/or to inhibit B cell proliferation and/or immunoglobulin        secretion.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases involving infection.        Examples of such diseases include, but are not limited to,        leprosy, viral infections such as hepatitis or HIV, bacterial        infection such as clostridium associated illnesses, including        clostridium-associated diarrhea, pulmonary tuberculosis, acute        febrile illness from bacteria such as or virus, fever, acute        phase response of the liver, septicemia, septic shock. Other        diseases involving infection are encompassed within the scope of        the invention.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases involving weight        disorders. Examples of such diseases include, but are not        limited to obesity, anorexia, cachexia, including AIDS-induced        cachexia, myopathies (e.g., muscle protein metabolism, such as        in sepsis), and hypoglycemia. Other diseases involving weight        disorders are encompassed within the scope of the invention.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases involving neuronal        dysfunction. Examples of such diseases include, but are not        limited to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, neurotoxicity        (e.g., as induced by HIV), ALS, brain injury, stress,        depression, nociception and other pain (including cancer-related        pain), hyperalgesia, epilepsy, learning impairment and memory        disorders, sleep disturbance, and peripheral and central        neuropathies. Other neurological disorders are encompassed        within the scope of the invention.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases involving the lung.        Examples of such diseases include, but are not limited to, acute        or chronic lung injury including interstitial lung disease,        acute respiratory disease syndrome, pulmonary hypertension,        emphysema, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary fibrosis, and asthma.        Other diseases of the lung are encompassed within the scope of        the invention.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases involving the skin.        Examples of such diseases include, but are not limited to,        psoriasis, eczema, and wound healing. Other diseases of the skin        are encompassed within the scope of the Invention.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases involving the kidney.        Examples of such diseases include, but are not limited to, acute        and chronic glomerulonephritis. Other diseases of the kidney are        encompassed within the scope of the invention.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases involving the bone.        Examples of such diseases include, but are not limited to,        osteoporosis, osteopetrosis, osteogenesis imperfecta, Paget's        disease, periodontal disease, temporal mandibular joint disease,        and hypercalcemia. Other diseases of the bone are encompassed        within the scope of the invention.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases involving the        vascular system. Examples of such diseases include, but are not        limited to hemorrhage or stroke, hemorrhagic shock, ischemia,        including cardiac ischemia and cerebral ischemia (e.g., brain        injury as a result of trauma, epilepsy, hemorrhage or stroke,        each of which may lead to neurodegeneration), atherosclerosis,        congestive heart failure; restenosis, reperfusion injury, and        angiogenesis. Other diseases of the vascular system are        encompassed within the scope of the invention.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of tumor cells. Examples of such        diseases include, but are not limited to, lymphomas, bone        sarcoma, chronic and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML and CML),        myelomoncytic leukemias and other leukemias, multiple myeloma,        lung, breast cancer, tumor metastasis, and side effects from        radiation therapy. Other diseases involving tumor cells are        encompassed within the scope of the invention.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of reproductive disorders.        Examples of such diseases include, but are not limited to,        infertility, miscarriage, pre-term labor and delivery, and        endometriosis. Other diseases involving the reproductive system        are encompassed within the scope of the invention.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of eye disorders. Examples of        such diseases include, but are not limited to, inflammatory eye        disease, as may be associated with, for example, corneal        transplant; retinal degeneration, blindness, macular        degeneration, glaucoma, uveitis, and retinal neuropathy. Other        diseases of the eye are encompassed within the scope of the        invention.    -   The diagnosis and/or treatment of diseases involving        inflammation. Examples of such diseases include but are not        limited to those described herein.

Other diseases which are treatable using agents within the scope of theinvention include acute pancreatitis, chronic fatigue syndrome,fibromyalgia, and Kawasaki's disease (MLNS).

Other diseases associated with undesirable levels of one or more ofIL-1, IL-1ra, the ligand of the present IL-17 receptor like polypeptide,and/or the present IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself areencompassed within the scope of the invention. Undesirable levelsinclude excessive and/or sub-normal levels of IL-1, IL-1ra, the ligandof the present IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, and/or the IL-17receptor like polypeptides described herein.

As contemplated by the present invention, an agonist or antagonist ofthe IL-17 receptor like polypeptide (including, but not limited to,anti-IL-17 receptor like selective binding agents (such as antibodies),ligands to the IL-17 receptor like receptor, soluble IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides, small molecules, and antisense oligonucleotides, or anIL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself) may be administered as anadjunct to other therapy and also with other pharmaceutical compositionssuitable for the indication being treated. An agonist or antagonist ofthe IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, and/or an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide itself and any of one or more additional therapies orpharmaceutical formulations may be administered separately,sequentially, or simultaneously.

In a specific embodiment, the present invention is directed to the useof an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide,and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself in combination(pre-treatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) with any of oneor more IL-1 inhibitors for the treatment or prevention of the diseasesand disorders recited herein.

IL-1 inhibitors include any protein capable of specifically preventingactivation of cellular receptors to IL-1, which may result from anynumber of mechanisms. Such mechanisms include downregulating IL-1production, binding free IL-1, interfering with IL-1 binding to itsreceptor, interfering with formation of the IL-1 receptor complex (i.e.,association of IL-1 receptor with IL-1 receptor accessory protein), orinterfering with modulation of IL-1 signaling after binding to itsreceptor. Classes of interleukin-1 inhibitors include:

-   -   Interleukin-1 receptor antagonists such as IL-1ra, as described        herein;    -   Anti-IL-1 receptor monoclonal antibodies (e.g., EP 623674);    -   IL-1 binding proteins such as soluble IL-1 receptors (e.g., U.S.        Pat. No. 5,492,888, U.S. Pat. No. 5,488,032, and U.S. Pat. No.        5,464,937, U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,071, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,180,812;    -   Anti-IL-1 monoclonal antibodies (e.g., WO 9501997, WO 9402627,        WO 9006371, U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,343, EP 364778, EP 267611 and EP        220063;    -   IL-1 receptor accessory proteins and antibodies thereto (e.g.,        WO 96/23067);    -   Inhibitors of interleukin-1β converting enzyme (ICE) or caspase        I, which can be used to inhibit IL-1 beta production and        secretion;    -   Interleukin-1β protease inhibitors;    -   Other compounds and proteins which block in vivo synthesis or        extracellular release of IL-1.

Exemplary IL-1 inhibitors are disclosed in the following references:

U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,747,444; 5,359,032; 5,608,035; 5,843,905; 5,359,032;5,866,576; 5,869,660; 5,869,315; 5,872,095; 5,955,480;

International (WO) patent applications 98/21957, 96/09323, 91/17184,96/40907, 98/32733, 98/42325, 98/44940, 98/47892, 98/56377, 99/03837,99/06426, 99/06042, 91/17249, 98/32733, 98/17661, 97/08174, 95/34326,99/36426, and 99/36415;

European (EP) patent applications 534978 and 894795; and French patentapplication FR 2762514;

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) is a human protein that actsas a natural inhibitor of interleukin-1. Preferred receptor antagonists(including IL-1ra and variants and derivatives thereof), as well asmethods of making and using thereof, are described in U.S. Pat. No.5,075,222; WO 91/08285; WO 91/17184; AU 9173636; WO 92/16221;WO93/21946; WO 94/06457; WO 94/21275; FR 2706772; WO 94/21235; DE4219626, WO 94/20517; WO 96/22793; WO 97/28828; and WO 99/36541. Theproteins include glycosylated as well as non-glycosylated IL-1 receptorantagonists.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that many combinations ofdeletions, insertions, and substitutions (individually or collectively“variant(s)” herein) can be made within the amino acid sequences ofIL-1ra, provided that the resulting molecule is biologically active(e.g., possesses the ability to affect one or more of the diseases anddisorders such as those recited herein.)

In a specific embodiment, the present invention is directed to the useof an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide,and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself in combination(pre-treatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) with any of oneor more TNF inhibitors for the treatment or prevention of the diseasesand disorders recited herein.

Such TNF inhibitors include compounds and proteins which block in vivosynthesis or extracellular release of TNF. In a specific embodiment, thepresent invention is directed to the use of an agonist or antagonist ofthe IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, and/or an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide itself in combination (pre-treatment, post-treatment, orconcurrent treatment) with any of one or more of the following TNFinhibitors: TNF binding proteins (soluble TNF receptor type-I andsoluble TNF receptor type-II (“sTNFRs”), as defined herein), anti-TNFantibodies, granulocyte colony stimulating factor; thalidomide; BN50730; tenidap; E 5531; tiapafant PCA 4248; nimesulide; panavir;rolipram; RP 73401; peptide T; MDL 201,449A;(1R,3S)-Cis-1-[9-(2,6-diaminopurinyl)]-3-hydroxy-4-cyclopentenehydrochloride;(1R,3R)-trans-1-(9-(2,6-diamino)purine]-3-acetoxycyclopentane;(1R,3R)-trans-1-[9-adenyl)-3-azidocyclopentane hydrochloride and(1R,3R)-trans-1-(6-hydroxy-purin-9-yl)-3-azidocyclo-pentane. TNF bindingproteins are disclosed in the art (EP 308 378, EP 422 339, GB 2 218 101,EP 393 438, WO 90/13575, EP 398 327, EP 412 486, WO 91/03553, EP 418014, JP 127,800/1991, EP 433 900, U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,021, GB 2 246 569,EP 464 533, WO 92/01002, WO 92/13095, WO 92/16221, EP 512 528, EP 526905, WO 93/07863, EP 568 928, WO 93/21946, WO 93/19777, EP 417 563, WO94/06476, and PCT International Application No. PCT/US97/12244).

For example, EP 393 438 and EP 422 339 teach the amino acid and nucleicacid sequences of a soluble TNF receptor type I (also known as “sTNFR-I”or “30 kDa TNF inhibitor”) and a soluble TNF receptor type II (alsoknown as “sTNFR-II” or “40 kDa TNF inhibitor”), collectively termed“sTNFRs”, as well as modified forms thereof (e.g., fragments, functionalderivatives and variants). EP 393 438 and EP 422 339 also disclosemethods for isolating the genes responsible for coding the inhibitors,cloning the gene in suitable vectors and cell types and expressing thegene to produce the inhibitors. Additionally, polyvalent forms (i.e.,molecules comprising more than one active moiety) of sTNFR-I andsTNFR-II have also been disclosed. In one embodiment, the polyvalentform may be constructed by chemically coupling at least one TNFinhibitor and another moiety with any clinically acceptable linker, forexample polyethylene glycol (WO 92/16221 and WO 95/34326), by a peptidelinker (Neve et al. (1996), Cytokine, 8(5):365-370, by chemicallycoupling to biotin and then binding to avidin (WO 91/03553) and,finally, by combining chimeric antibody molecules (U.S. Pat. No.5,116,964, WO 89/09622, WO 91/16437 and EP 315062.

Anti-TNF antibodies include MAK 195F Fab antibody (Holler et al. (1993),1st International Symposium on Cytokines in Bone Marrow Transplantation,147); CDP 571 anti-TNF monoclonal antibody (Rankin et al. (1995),British Journal of Rheumatology, 34:334-342); BAY X 1351 murineanti-tumor necrosis factor monoclonal antibody (Kieft et al. (1995), 7thEuropean Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, page9); CenTNF cA2 (REMICADE) anti-TNF monoclonal antibody (Elliott et al.(1994), Lancet, 344:1125-1127 and Elliott et al. (1994), Lancet,344:1105-1110).

It will be appreciated that the IL-17 receptor like polypeptides may beused (simultaneously or sequentially) in combination with one or morecytokines, growth factors, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and/orchemotherapeutic agents as is appropriate for the indication beingtreated.

In one specific embodiment, the present invention is directed to the useof agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, and/oran IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself in combination (pretreatment,post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) with secreted or soluble humanfas antigen or recombinant versions thereof (WO 96/20206 and Mountz etal., J. Immunology, 155:4829-4837; and EP 510 691. WO 96/20206 disclosessecreted human fas antigen (native and recombinant, including an Igfusion protein), methods for isolating the genes responsible for codingthe soluble recombinant human fas antigen, methods for cloning the genein suitable vectors and cell types, and methods for expressing the geneto produce the inhibitors. EP 510 691 describes DNAs coding for humanfas antigen, including soluble fas antigen, vectors expressing for saidDNAs and transformants transfected with the vector. When administeredparenterally, doses of a secreted or soluble fas antigen fusion proteineach are generally from bout 1 micrograms/kg to about 100 micrograms/kg.

Treatment of the diseases and disorders recited herein, can include theuse of first line drugs for control of pain and inflammation. Thesedrugs are classified as non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).Secondary treatments include corticosteroids, slow acting antirheumaticdrugs (SAARDs), or disease modifying (DM) drugs. Information regardingthe following compounds can be found in The Merck Manual of Diagnosisand Therapy, Sixteenth Edition, Merck, Sharp & Dohme ResearchLaboratories, Merck & Co., Rahway, N.J. (1992) and in Pharmaprojects,PJB Publications Ltd.

In a specific embodiment, the present invention is directed to the useof an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide,and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself and any of one or moreNSAIDs for the treatment of the diseases and disorders recited herein,including acute and chronic inflammation such as rheumatic diseases; andgraft versus host disease. NSAIDs owe their anti-inflammatory action, atleast in part, to the inhibition of prostaglandin synthesis (Goodman andGilman in “The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics,” MacMillan 7thEdition (1985)). NSAIDs can be characterized into at least nine groups:(1) salicylic acid derivatives; (2) propionic acid derivatives; (3)acetic acid derivatives; (4) fenamic acid derivatives; (5) carboxylicacid derivatives; (6) butyric acid derivatives; (7) oxicams; (8)pyrazoles and (9) pyrazolones.

In another specific embodiment, the present invention is directed to theuse of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide,and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself in combination(pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) with any of oneor more salicylic acid derivatives, prodrug esters or pharmaceuticallyacceptable salts thereof. Such salicylic acid derivatives, prodrugesters and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof comprise:acetaminosalol, aloxiprin, aspirin, benorylate, bromosaligenin, calciumacetylsalicylate, choline magnesium trisalicylate, magnesium salicylate,choline salicylate, diflusinal, etersalate, fendosal, gentisic acid,glycol salicylate, imidazole salicylate, lysine acetylsalicylate,mesalamine, morpholine salicylate, 1-naphthyl salicylate, olsalazine,parsalmide, phenyl acetylsalicylate, phenyl salicylate, salacetamide,salicylamide O-acetic acid, salsalate, sodium salicylate andsulfasalazine. Structurally related salicylic acid derivatives havingsimilar analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties are also intended tobe encompassed by this group.

In an additional specific embodiment, the present invention is directedto the use of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself incombination (pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) withany of one or more propionic acid derivatives, prodrug esters orpharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. The propionic acidderivatives, prodrug esters, and pharmaceutically acceptable saltsthereof comprise: alminoprofen, benoxaprofen, bucloxic acid, carprofen,dexindoprofen, fenoprofen, flunoxaprofen, fluprofen, flurbiprofen,furcloprofen, ibuprofen, ibuprofen aluminum, ibuproxam, indoprofen,isoprofen, ketoprofen, loxoprofen, miroprofen, naproxen, naproxensodium, oxaprozin, piketoprofen, pimeprofen, pirprofen, pranoprofen,protizinic acid, pyridoxiprofen, suprofen, tiaprofenic acid andtioxaprofen. Structurally related propionic acid derivatives havingsimilar analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties are also intended tobe encompassed by this group.

In yet another specific embodiment, the present invention is directed tothe use of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself incombination (pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) withany of one or more acetic acid derivatives, prodrug esters orpharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. The acetic acid derivatives,prodrug esters, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof comprise:acemetacin, alclofenac, amfenac, bufexamac, cinmetacin, clopirac,delmetacin, diclofenac potassium, diclofenac sodium, etodolac, felbinac,fenclofenac, fenclorac, fenclozic acid, fentiazac, furofenac,glucametacin, ibufenac, indomethacin, isofezolac, isoxepac, lonazolac,metiazinic acid, oxametacin, oxpinac, pimetacin, proglumetacin,sulindac, talmetacin, tiaramide, tiopinac, tolmetin, tolmetin sodium,zidometacin and zomepirac. Structurally related acetic acid derivativeshaving similar analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties are alsointended to be encompassed by this group.

In another specific embodiment, the present invention is directed to theuse of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide,and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself in combination(pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) with any of oneor more fenamic acid derivatives, prodrug esters or pharmaceuticallyacceptable salts thereof. The fenamic acid derivatives, prodrug estersand pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof comprise: enfenamic acid,etofenamate, flufenamic acid, isonixin, meclofenamic acid, meclofenamatesodium, medofenamic acid, mefenamic acid, niflumic acid, talniflumate,terofenamate, tolfenamic acid and ufenamate. Structurally relatedfenamic acid derivatives having similar analgesic and anti-inflammatoryproperties are also intended to be encompassed by this group.

In an additional specific embodiment, the present invention is directedto the use of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself incombination (pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) withany of one or more carboxylic acid derivatives, prodrug esters orpharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. The carboxylic acidderivatives, prodrug esters, and pharmaceutically acceptable saltsthereof which can be used comprise: clidanac, diflunisal, flufenisal,inoridine, ketorolac and tinoridine. Structurally related carboxylicacid derivatives having similar analgesic and anti-inflammatoryproperties are also intended to be encompassed by this group.

In yet another specific embodiment, the present invention is directed tothe use of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself incombination (pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) withany of one or more butyric acid derivatives, prodrug esters orpharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. The butyric acid derivatives,prodrug esters, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof comprise:bumadizon, butibufen, fenbufen and xenbucin. Structurally relatedbutyric acid derivatives having similar analgesic and anti-inflammatoryproperties are also intended to be encompassed by this group.

In another specific embodiment, the present invention is directed to theuse of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide,and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself in combination(pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) with any of oneor more oxicams, prodrug esters, or pharmaceutically acceptable saltsthereof. The oxicams, prodrug esters, and pharmaceutically acceptablesalts thereof comprise: droxicam, enolicam, isoxicam, piroxicam,sudoxicam, tenoxicam and4-hydroxyl-1,2-benzothiazine-1,1-dioxide-4-(N-phenyl)-carboxamide.Structurally related oxicams having similar analgesic andanti-inflammatory properties are also intended to be encompassed by thisgroup.

In still another specific embodiment, the present invention is directedto the use of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself incombination (pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) withany of one or more pyrazoles, prodrug esters, or pharmaceuticallyacceptable salts thereof. The pyrazoles, prodrug esters, andpharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof which may be used comprise:difenamizole and epirizole. Structurally related pyrazoles havingsimilar analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties are also intended tobe encompassed by this group.

In an additional specific embodiment, the present invention is directedto the use of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself incombination (pretreatment, post-treatment or, concurrent treatment) withany of one or more pyrazolones, prodrug esters, or pharmaceuticallyacceptable salts thereof. The pyrazolones, prodrug esters andpharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof which may be used comprise:apazone, azapropazone, benzpiperylon, feprazone, mofebutazone, morazone,oxyphenbutazone, phenylbutazone, pipebuzone, propylphenazone,ramifenazone, suxibuzone and thiazolinobutazone. Structurally relatedpyrazalones having similar analgesic and anti-inflammatory propertiesare also intended to be encompassed by this group.

In another specific embodiment, the present invention is directed to theuse of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide,and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself in combination(pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) with any of oneor more of the following NSAIDs: ε-acetamidocaproic acid,S-adenosylmethionine, 3-amino-4-hydroxybutyric acid, amixetrine,anitrazafen, antrafenine, bendazac, bendazac lysinate, benzydamine,beprozin, broperamole, bucolome, bufezolac, ciproquazone, cloximate,dazidamine, deboxamet, detomidine, difenpiramide, difenpyramide,difisalamine, ditazol, emorfazone, fanetizole mesylate, fenflumizole,floctafenine, flumizole, flunixin, fluproquazone, fopirtoline, fosfosal,guaimesal, guaiazolene, isonixirn, lefetamine HCl, leflunomide,lofemizole, lotifazole, lysin clonixinate, meseclazone, nabumetone,nictindole, nimesulide, orgotein, orpanoxin, oxaceprol, oxapadol,paranyline, perisoxal, perisoxal citrate, pifoxime, piproxen, pirazolac,pirfenidone, proquazone, proxazole, thielavin B, tiflamizole,timegadine, tolectin, tolpadol, tryptamid and those designated bycompany code number such as 480156S, AA861, AD1590, AFP802, AFP860,AI77B, AP504, AU8001, BPPC, BW540C, CHINOIN 127, CN100, EB382, EL508,F1044, FK-506, GV3658, ITF182, KCNTEI6090, KME4, LA2851, MR714, MR897,MY309, ONO3144, PR823, PV102, PV108, R830, RS2131, SCR152, SH440,SIR133, SPAS510, SQ27239, ST281, SY6001, TA60, TAI-901(4-benzoyl-1-indancarboxylic acid), TVX2706, U60257, UR2301 and WY41770.Structurally related NSAIDs having similar analgesic andanti-inflammatory properties to the NSAIDs are also intended to beencompassed by this group.

In still another specific embodiment, the present invention is directedto the use of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself incombination (pretreatment, post-treatment or concurrent treatment) withany of one or more corticosteroids, prodrug esters or pharmaceuticallyacceptable salts thereof for the treatment of the diseases and disordersrecited herein, including acute and chronic inflammation such asrheumatic diseases, graft versus host disease and multiple sclerosis.Corticosteroids, prodrug esters and pharmaceutically acceptable saltsthereof include hydrocortisone and compounds which are derived fromhydrocortisone, such as 21-acetoxypregnenolone, alclomerasone,algestone, amcinonide, beclomethasone, betamethasone, betamethasonevalerate, budesonide, chloroprednisone, clobetasol, clobetasolpropionate, clobetasone, clobetasone butyrate, clocortolone, cloprednol,corticosterone, cortisone, cortivazol, deflazacon, desonide,desoximerasone, dexamethasone, diflorasone, diflucortolone,difluprednate, enoxolone, fluazacort, flucloronide, flumethasone,flumethasone pivalate, flucinolone acetonide, flunisolide, fluocinonide,fluorocinolone acetonide, fluocortin butyl, fluocortolone, fluocortolonehexanoate, diflucortolone valerate, fluorometholone, fluperoloneacetate, fluprednidene acetate, fluprednisolone, flurandenolide,formocortal, halcinonide, halometasone, halopredone acetate,hydrocortamate, hydrocortisone, hydrocortisone acetate, hydrocortisonebutyrate, hydrocortisone phosphate, hydrocortisone 21-sodium succinate,hydrocortisone tebutate, mazipredone, medrysone, meprednisone,methylprednisolone, mometasone furoate, paramethasone, prednicarbate,prednisolone, prednisolone 21-diedryaminoacetate, prednisolone sodiumphosphate, prednisolone sodium succinate, prednisolone sodium21-m-sulfobenzoate, prednisolone sodium 21-stearoglycolate, prednisolonetebutate, prednisolone 21-trimethylacetate, prednisone, prednival,prednylidene, prednylidene 21-diethylaminoacetate, tixocortol,triamcinolone, triamcinolone acetonide, triamcinolone benetonide andtriamcinolone hexacetonide. Structurally related corticosteroids havingsimilar analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties are also intended tobe encompassed by this group.

In another specific embodiment, the present invention is directed to theuse of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide,and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself in combination(pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) with any of oneor more slow-acting antirheumatic drugs (SAARDS) or disease modifyingantirheumatic drugs (DMARDS), prodrug esters, or pharmaceuticallyacceptable salts thereof for the treatment of the diseases and disordersrecited herein, including acute and chronic inflammation such asrheumatic diseases, graft versus host disease and multiple sclerosis.SAARDs or DMARDS, prodrug esters and pharmaceutically acceptable saltsthereof comprise: allocupreide sodium, auranofin, aurothioglucose,aurothioglycanide, azathioprine, brequinar sodium, bucillamine, calcium3-aurothio-2-propanol-1-sulfonate, chlorambucil, chloroquine,clobuzarit, cuproxoline, cyclophosphamide, cyclosporin, dapsone,15-deoxyspergualin, diacerein, glucosamine, gold salts (e.g., cycloquinegold salt, gold sodium thiomalate, gold sodium thiosulfate),hydroxychloroquine, hydroxychloroquine sulfate, hydroxyurea, kebuzone,levamisole, lobenzarit, melittin, 6-mercaptopurine, methotrexate,mizoribine, mycophenolate mofetil, myoral, nitrogen mustard,D-penicillamine, pyridinol imidazoles such as SKNF86002 and SB203580,rapamycin, thiols, thymopoietin and vincristine. Structurally relatedSAARDs or DMARDs having similar analgesic and anti-inflammatoryproperties are also intended to be encompassed by this group.

In another specific embodiment, the present invention is directed to theuse of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide,and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself in combination(pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) with any of oneor more COX2 inhibitors, prodrug esters or pharmaceutically acceptablesalts thereof for the treatment of the diseases and disorders recitedherein, including acute and chronic inflammation. Examples of COX2inhibitors, prodrug esters or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereofinclude, for example, celecoxib. Structurally related COX2 inhibitorshaving similar analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties are alsointended to be encompassed by this group.

In still another specific embodiment, the present invention is directedto the use of an agonist or antagonist of the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, and/or an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide itself incombination (pretreatment, post-treatment, or concurrent treatment) withany of one or more antimicrobials, prodrug esters or pharmaceuticallyacceptable salts thereof for the treatment of the diseases and disordersrecited herein, including acute and chronic inflammation. Antimicrobialsinclude, for example, the broad classes of penicillins, cephalosporinsand other beta-lactams, aminoglycosides, azoles, quinolones, macrolides,rifamycins, tetracyclines, sulfonamides, lincosamides and polymyxins.The penicillins include, but are not limited to penicillin G, penicillinV, methicillin, nafcillin, oxacillin, cloxacillin, dicloxacillin,floxacillin, ampicillin, ampicillin/sulbactam, amoxicillin,amoxicillin/clavulanate, hetacillin, cyclacillin, bacampicillin,carbenicillin, carbenicillin indanyl, ticarcillin,ticarcillin/clavulanate, azlocillin, mezlocillin, peperacillin, andmecillinam. The cephalosporins and other beta-lactams include, but arenot limited to cephalothin, cephapirin, cephalexin, cephradine,cefazolin, cefadroxil, cefaclor, cefamandole, cefotetan, cefoxitin,ceruroxime, cefonicid, ceforadine, cefixime, cefotaxime, moxalactam,ceftizoxime, cetriaxone, cephoperazone, ceftazidime, imipenem andaztreonam. The aminoglycosides include, but are not limited tostreptomycin, gentamicin, tobramycin, amikacin, netilmicin, kanamycinand neomycin. The azoles include, but are not limited to fluconazole.The quinolones include, but are not limited to nalidixic acid,norfloxacin, enoxacin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin, sparfloxacin andtemafloxacin. The macrolides include, but are not limited toerythomycin, spiramycin and azithromycin. The rifamycins include, butare not limited to rifampin. The tetracyclines include, but are notlimited to spicycline, chlortetracycline, clomocycline, demeclocycline,deoxycycline, guamecycline, lymecycline, meclocycline, methacycline,minocycline, oxytetracycline, penimepicycline, pipacycline,rolitetracycline, sancycline, senociclin and tetracycline. Thesulfonamides include, but are not limited to sulfanilamide,sulfamethoxazole, sulfacetamide, sulfadiazine, sulfisoxazole andco-trimoxazole (trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole). The lincosamidesinclude, but are not limited to clindamycin and lincomycin. Thepolymyxins (polypeptides) include, but are not limited to polymyxin Band colistin.

IL-17 Receptor Like Compositions and Administration

Therapeutic compositions are within the scope of the present invention.Such IL-17 receptor like pharmaceutical compositions may comprise atherapeutically effective amount of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptideor an IL-17 receptor like nucleic acid molecule in admixture with apharmaceutically or physiologically acceptable formulation agentselected for suitability with the mode of administration. Otherpharmaceutical compositions may comprise a therapeutically effectiveamount of one or more IL-17 receptor like selective binding agents inadmixture with a pharmaceutically or physiologically acceptableformulation agent selected for suitability with the mode ofadministration.

Acceptable formulation materials preferably are nontoxic to recipientsat the dosages and concentrations employed.

The pharmaceutical composition may contain formulation materials formodifying, maintaining or preserving, for example, the pH, osmolarity,viscosity, clarity, color, isotonicity, odor, sterility, stability, rateof dissolution or release, adsorption or penetration of the composition.Suitable formulation materials include, but are not limited to, aminoacids (such as glycine, glutamine, asparagine, arginine or lysine),antimicrobials, antioxidants (such as ascorbic acid, sodium sulfite orsodium hydrogen-sulfite), buffers (such as borate, bicarbonate,Tris-HCl, citrates, phosphates, other organic acids), bulking agents(such as mannitol or glycine), chelating agents (such as ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)), complexing agents (such as caffeine,polyvinylpyrrolidone, beta-cyclodextrin orhydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin), fillers, monosaccharides,disaccharides, and other carbohydrates (such as glucose, mannose, ordextrins), proteins (such as serum albumin, gelatin or immunoglobulins),coloring, flavoring and diluting agents, emulsifying agents, hydrophilicpolymers (such as polyvinylpyrrolidone), low molecular weightpolypeptides, salt-forming counterions (such as sodium), preservatives(such as benzalkonium chloride, benzoic acid, salicylic acid,thimerosal, phenethyl alcohol, methylparaben, propylparaben,chlorhexidine, sorbic acid or hydrogen peroxide), solvents (such asglycerin, propylene glycol or polyethylene glycol), sugar alcohols (suchas mannitol or sorbitol), suspending agents, surfactants or wettingagents (such as pluronics, PEG, sorbitan esters, polysorbates such aspolysorbate 20, polysorbate 80, triton, tromethamine, lecithin,cholesterol, tyloxapal), stability enhancing agents (sucrose orsorbitol), tonicity enhancing agents (such as alkali metal halides(preferably sodium or potassium chloride), mannitol sorbitol), deliveryvehicles, diluents, excipients and/or pharmaceutical adjuvants. SeeRemington's Pharmaceutical Sciences, 18^(th) Ed., A. R. Gennaro, ed.,Mack Publishing Company (1990).

The optimal pharmaceutical formulation will be determined by one skilledin the art depending upon, for example, the intended route ofadministration, delivery format, and desired dosage. See for example,Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences, supra. Such compositions mayinfluence the physical state, stability, rate of in vivo release, andrate of in vivo clearance of the IL-17 receptor like molecule.

The primary vehicle or carrier in a pharmaceutical composition may beeither aqueous or non-aqueous in nature. For example, a suitable vehicleor carrier may be water for injection, physiological saline solution, orartificial cerebrospinal fluid, possibly supplemented with othermaterials common in compositions for parenteral administration. Neutralbuffered saline or saline mixed with serum albumin are further exemplaryvehicles. Other exemplary pharmaceutical compositions comprise Trisbuffer of about pH 7.0-8.5, or acetate buffer of about pH 4.0-5.5, whichmay further include sorbitol or a suitable substitute therefor. In oneembodiment of the present invention, IL-17 receptor like polypeptidecompositions may be prepared for storage by mixing the selectedcomposition having the desired degree of purity with optionalformulation agents (Remington's Pharmaceutical Sciences, supra) in theform of a lyophilized cake or an aqueous solution. Further, the IL-17receptor like polypeptide product may be formulated as a lyophilizateusing appropriate excipients such as sucrose.

The IL-17 receptor like pharmaceutical compositions can be selected forparenteral delivery. Alternatively, the compositions may be selected forinhalation or for delivery through the digestive tract, such as orally.The preparation of such pharmaceutically acceptable compositions iswithin the skill of the art.

The formulation components are present in concentrations that areacceptable to the site of administration. For example, buffers are usedto maintain the composition at physiological pH or at slightly lower pH,typically within a pH range of from about 5 to about 8.

When parenteral administration is contemplated, the therapeuticcompositions for use in this invention may be in the form of apyrogen-free, parenterally acceptable aqueous solution comprising thedesired IL-17 receptor like molecule in a pharmaceutically acceptablevehicle. A particularly suitable vehicle for parenteral injection issterile distilled water in which a IL-17 receptor like molecule isformulated as a sterile, isotonic solution, properly preserved. Yetanother preparation can involve the formulation of the desired moleculewith an agent, such as injectable microspheres, bio-erodible particles,polymeric compounds (polylactic acid, polyglycolic acid), or beads, orliposomes, that provides for the controlled or sustained release of theproduct which may then be delivered as a depot injection. Hyaluronicacid may also be used, and this may have the effect of promotingsustained duration in the circulation. Other suitable means for theintroduction of the desired molecule include implantable drug deliverydevices.

Pharmaceutical compositions such as (1) slow-release formulations, (2)inhalant mists, or (3) orally active formulations are also envisioned.The IL-17 receptor like molecule pharmaceutical composition generally isformulated for parenteral administration. Such parenterally administeredtherapeutic compositions are typically in the form of a pyrogen-free,parenterally acceptable aqueous solution comprising the desired IL-17receptor like molecule in a pharmaceutically acceptable vehicle. TheIL-17 receptor like molecule pharmaceutical compositions also mayinclude particulate preparations of polymeric compounds such aspolylactic acid, polyglycolic acid, etc. or the introduction of themolecule into liposomes. Hyaluronic acid may also be used, and this mayhave the effect of promoting sustained duration in the circulation

In one embodiment, a pharmaceutical composition may be formulated forinhalation. For example, an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide may beformulated as a dry powder for inhalation. IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide or IL-17 receptor like nucleic acid molecule inhalationsolutions may also be formulated with a liquefied propellant for aerosoldelivery. In yet another embodiment, solutions may be nebulized.Pulmonary administration is further described in PCT application no.PCT/US94/001875, which describes pulmonary delivery of chemicallymodified proteins.

It is also contemplated that certain formulations may be administeredorally. In one embodiment of the present invention, IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides which are administered in this fashion can be formulatedwith or without those carriers customarily used in the compounding ofsolid dosage forms such as tablets and capsules. For example, a capsulemay be designed to release the active portion of the formulation at thepoint in the gastrointestinal tract when bioavailability is maximizedand pre-systemic degradation is minimized. Additional agents can beincluded to facilitate absorption of the IL-17 receptor like molecule.Diluents, flavorings, low melting point waxes, vegetable oils,lubricants, suspending agents, tablet disintegrating agents, and bindersmay also be employed.

Another pharmaceutical composition may involve an effective quantity ofIL-17 receptor like polypeptides in a mixture with non-toxic excipientswhich are suitable for the manufacture of tablets. By dissolving thetablets in sterile water, or other appropriate vehicle, solutions can beprepared in unit dose form. Suitable excipients include, but are notlimited to, inert diluents, such as calcium carbonate, sodium carbonateor bicarbonate, lactose, or calcium phosphate; or binding agents, suchas starch, gelatin, or acacia; or lubricating agents such as magnesiumstearate, stearic acid, or talc.

Additional IL-17 receptor like pharmaceutical formulations will beevident to those skilled in the art, including formulations involvingIL-17 receptor like polypeptides in sustained- or controlled-deliveryformulations. Techniques for formulating a variety of other sustained-or controlled-delivery means, such as liposome carriers, bio-erodiblemicroparticles or porous beads and depot injections, are also known tothose skilled in the art. See for example, PCT/US93/00829 whichdescribes controlled release of porous polymeric microparticles for thedelivery of pharmaceutical compositions. Additional examples ofsustained-release preparations include semipermeable polymer matrices inthe form of shaped articles, e.g. films, or microcapsules. Sustainedrelease matrices may include polyesters, hydrogels, polylactides (U.S.Pat. No. 3,773,919, EP 58,481), copolymers of L-glutamic acid and gammaethyl-L-glutamate (Sidman et al., Biopolymers, 22:547-556 (1983)), poly(2-hydroxyethyl-methacrylate) (Langer et al., J. Biomed. Mater. Res.,15:167-277 (1981) and Langer, Chem. Tech., 12:98-105 (1982)), ethylenevinyl acetate (Langer et al., supra) or poly-D(−)-3-hydroxybutyric acid(EP 133,988). Sustained-release compositions also may include liposomes,which can be prepared by any of several methods known in the art. Seee.g., Eppstein et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 82:3688-3692 (1985);EP 36,676; EP 88,046; EP 143,949.

The IL-17 receptor like pharmaceutical composition to be used for invivo administration typically must be sterile. This may be accomplishedby filtration through sterile filtration membranes. Where thecomposition is lyophilized, sterilization using these methods may beconducted either prior to, or following, lyophilization andreconstitution. The composition for parenteral administration may bestored in lyophilized form or in solution. In addition, parenteralcompositions generally are placed into a container having a sterileaccess port, for example, an intravenous solution bag or vial having astopper pierceable by a hypodermic injection needle.

Once the pharmaceutical composition has been formulated, it may bestored in sterile vials as a solution, suspension, gel, emulsion, solid,or a dehydrated or lyophilized powder. Such formulations may be storedeither in a ready-to-use form or in a form (e.g., lyophilized) requiringreconstitution prior to administration.

In a specific embodiment, the present invention is directed to kits forproducing a single-dose administration unit. The kits may each containboth a first container having a dried protein and a second containerhaving an aqueous formulation. Also included within the scope of thisinvention are kits containing single and multi-chambered pre-filledsyringes (e.g., liquid syringes and lyosyringes).

An effective amount of an IL-17 receptor like pharmaceutical compositionto be employed therapeutically will depend, for example, upon thetherapeutic context and objectives. One skilled in the art willappreciate that the appropriate dosage levels for treatment will thusvary depending, in part, upon the molecule delivered, the indication forwhich the IL-17 receptor like molecule is being used, the route ofadministration, and the size (body weight, body surface or organ size)and condition (the age and general health) of the patient. Accordingly,the clinician may titer the dosage and modify the route ofadministration to obtain the optimal therapeutic effect. A typicaldosage may range from about 0.1 μg/kg to up to about 100 mg/kg or more,depending on the factors mentioned above. In other embodiments, thedosage may range from 0.1 μg/kg up to about 100 mg/kg; or 1 μg/kg up toabout 100 mg/kg; or 5 μg/kg up to about 100 mg/kg.

The frequency of dosing will depend upon the pharmacokinetic parametersof the IL-17 receptor like molecule in the formulation used. Typically,a clinician will administer the composition until a dosage is reachedthat achieves the desired effect. The composition may therefore beadministered as a single dose, or as two or more doses (which may or maynot contain the same amount of the desired molecule) over time, or as acontinuous infusion via implantation device or catheter. Furtherrefinement of the appropriate dosage is routinely made by those ofordinary skill in the art and is within the ambit of tasks routinelyperformed by them. Appropriate dosages may be ascertained through use ofappropriate dose-response data.

The route of administration of the pharmaceutical composition is inaccord with known methods, e.g. oral, inhalation, injection or infusionby intravenous, intraperitoneal, intracerebral (intra-parenchymal),intracerebroventricular, intramuscular, intraocular, intraarterial,intraportal, or intralesional routes, or by sustained release systems orimplantation device. Where desired, the compositions may be administeredby continuosly by infusion, by bolus injection or continuously byinfusion, or by implantation device.

Alternatively or additionally, the composition may be administeredlocally via implantation into the affected area of a membrane, sponge,or other appropriate material on to which the desired molecule has beenabsorbed or encapsulated. Where an implantation device is used, thedevice may be directly through the device implanted into any suitabletissue or organ, and delivery of the desired molecule may be viadiffusion, time release bolus, or continuous administration, or viacatheter continuous infusion.

It will further be appreciated that the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides, including fragments, variants, and derivatives, may beemployed alone, together, or in combination with other polypeptides andpharmaceutical compositions. For example, the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides may be used in combination with cytokines, growth factors,antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and/or chemotherapeutic agents as isappropriate for the indication being treated.

In some cases, it may be desirable to use IL-17 receptor likepharmaceutical compositions in an ex vivo manner. In such instances,cells, tissues, or organs that have been removed from the patient areexposed to IL-17 receptor like pharmaceutical compositions after whichthe cells, tissues and/or organs are subsequently implanted back intothe patient.

In other cases, an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide can be delivered byimplanting certain cells that have been genetically engineered, usingmethods such as those described herein, to express and secrete thepolypeptide. Such cells may be animal or human cells, and may beautologous, heterologous, or xenogeneic. Optionally, the cells may beimmortalized. In order to decrease the chance of an immunologicalresponse, the cells may be encapsulated to avoid infiltration ofsurrounding tissues. The encapsulation materials are typicallybiocompatible, semi-permeable polymeric enclosures or membranes thatallow the release of the protein product(s) but prevent the destructionof the cells by the patient's immune system or by other detrimentalfactors from the surrounding tissues.

Additional embodiments of the present invention relate to cells andmethods (e.g., homologous recombination and/or other recombinantproduction methods) for both the in vitro production of therapeuticpolypeptides and for the production and delivery of therapeuticpolypeptides by gene therapy or cell therapy. Homologous and otherrecombination methods may be used to modify a cell that contains anormally transcriptionally silent IL-17 receptor like gene, or an underexpressed gene, and thereby produce a cell which expressestherapeutically efficacious amounts of IL-17 receptor like polypeptides.

It is further envisioned that IL-17 receptor like polypeptides can beproduced in vitro or in vivo by homologous recombination, or withrecombinant production methods utilizing control elements introducedinto cells already containing DNA encoding IL-17 receptor polypeptides.For example, homologous recombination is a technique originallydeveloped for targeting genes to induce or correct mutations intranscriptionally active genes (Kucherlapati, Prog. in Nucl. Acid Res. &Mol. Biol., 36:301, 1989). The basic technique was developed as a methodfor introducing specific mutations into specific regions of themammalian genome (Thomas et al., Cell, 44:419-428, 1986; Thomas andCapecchi, Cell, 51:503-512, 1987; Doetschman et al., Proc. Natl. Acad.Sci., 85:8583-8587, 1988) or to correct specific mutations withindefective genes (Doetschman et al., Nature, 330:576-578, 1987).Exemplary homologous recombination techniques are described in U.S. Pat.No. 5,272,071 (EP 9193051, EP Publication No. 505500; PCT/US90/07642,International Publication No. WO 91/09955).

Through homologous recombination, the DNA sequence to be inserted intothe genome can be directed to a specific region of the gene of interestby attaching it to targeting DNA. The targeting DNA is a nucleotidesequence that is complementary (homologous) to a region of the genomicDNA. Small pieces of targeting DNA that are complementary to a specificregion of the genome are put in contact with the parental strand duringthe DNA replication process. It is a general property of DNA that hasbeen inserted into a cell to hybridize, and therefore, recombine withother pieces of endogenous DNA through shared homologous regions. Ifthis complementary strand is attached to an oligonucleotide thatcontains a mutation or a different sequence or an additional nucleotide,it too is incorporated into the newly synthesized strand as a result ofthe recombination. As a result of the proofreading function, it ispossible for the new sequence of DNA to serve as the template. Thus, thetransferred DNA is incorporated into the genome.

Attached to these pieces of targeting DNA are regions of DNA which mayinteract with or control the expression of a IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide, e.g., flanking sequences. For example, a promoter/enhancerelement, a suppresser, or an exogenous transcription modulatory elementis inserted in the genome of the intended host cell in proximity andorientation sufficient to influence the transcription of DNA encodingthe desired IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. The control elementcontrols a portion of the DNA present in the host cell genome. Thus, theexpression of the desired IL-17 receptor like polypeptide may beachieved not by transfection of DNA that encodes the IL-17 receptor likegene itself, but rather by the use of targeting DNA (containing regionsof homology with the endogenous gene of interest) coupled with DNAregulatory segments that provide the endogenous gene sequence withrecognizable signals for transcription of an IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide.

In an exemplary method, the expression of a desired targeted gene in acell (i.e., a desired endogenous cellular gene) is altered viahomologous recombination into the cellular genome at a preselected site,by the introduction of DNA which includes at least a regulatorysequence, an exon and a splice donor site. These components areintroduced into the chromosomal (genomic) DNA in such a manner thatthis, in effect, results in the production of a new transcription unit(in which the regulatory sequence, the exon and the splice donor sitepresent in the DNA construct are operatively linked to the endogenousgene). As a result of the introduction of these components into thechromosomal DNA, the expression of the desired endogenous gene isaltered.

Altered gene expression, as described herein, encompasses activating (orcausing to be expressed) a gene which is normally silent (unexpressed)in the cell as obtained, as well as increasing the expression of a genewhich is not expressed at physiologically significant levels in the cellas obtained. The embodiments further encompass changing the pattern ofregulation or induction such that it is different from the pattern ofregulation or induction that occurs in the cell as obtained, andreducing (including eliminating) the expression of a gene which isexpressed in the cell as obtained.

One method by which homologous recombination can be used to increase, orcause, IL-17 receptor like polypeptide production from a cell'sendogenous IL-17 receptor like gene involves first using homologousrecombination to place a recombination sequence from a site-specificrecombination system (e.g., Cre/loxP, FLP/FRT) (Sauer, Current OpinionIn Biotechnology, 5:521-527, 1994; Sauer, Methods In Enzymology,225:890-900, 1993) upstream (that is, 5′ to) of the cell's endogenousgenomic IL-17 receptor like polypeptide coding region. A plasmidcontaining a recombination site homologous to the site that was placedjust upstream of the genomic IL-17 receptor like polypeptide codingregion is introduced into the modified cell line along with theappropriate recombinase enzyme. This recombinase causes the plasmid tointegrate, via the plasmid's recombination site, into the recombinationsite located just upstream of the genomic IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide coding region in the cell line (Baubonis and Sauer, NucleicAcids Res., 21:2025-2029, 1993; O'Gorman et al., Science, 251:1351-1355,1991). Any flanking sequences known to increase transcription (e.g.,enhancer/promoter, intron, translational enhancer), if properlypositioned in this plasmid, would integrate in such a manner as tocreate a new or modified transcriptional unit resulting in de novo orincreased IL-17 receptor like polypeptide production from the cell'sendogenous IL-17 receptor like gene.

A further method to use the cell line in which the site specificrecombination sequence had been placed just upstream of the cell'sendogenous genomic IL-17 receptor like polypeptide coding region is touse homologous recombination to introduce a second recombination siteelsewhere in the cell line's genome. The appropriate recombinase enzymeis then introduced into the two-recombination-site cell line, causing arecombination event (deletion, inversion, translocation) (Sauer, CurrentOpinion In Biotechnology, supra, 1994; Sauer, Methods In Enzymology,supra, 1993) that would create a new or modified transcriptional unitresulting in de novo or increased IL-17 receptor like polypeptideproduction from the cell's endogenous IL-17 receptor like gene.

An additional approach for increasing, or causing, the expression ofIL-17 receptor like polypeptide from a cell's endogenous IL-17 receptorlike gene involves increasing, or causing, the expression of a gene orgenes (e.g., transcription factors) and/or decreasing the expression ofa gene or genes (e.g., transcriptional repressors) in a manner whichresults in de novo or increased IL-17 receptor like polypeptideproduction from the cell's endogenous IL-17 receptor like gene. Thismethod includes the introduction of a non-naturally occurringpolypeptide (e.g., a polypeptide comprising a site specific DNA bindingdomain fused to a transcriptional factor domain) into the cell such thatde novo or increased IL-17 receptor like polypeptide production from thecell's endogenous IL-17 receptor like gene results.

The present invention further relates to DNA constructs useful in themethod of altering expression of a target gene. In certain embodiments,the exemplary DNA constructs comprise: (a) one or more targetingsequences; (b) a regulatory sequence; (c) an exon; and (d) an unpairedsplice-donor site. The targeting sequence in the DNA construct directsthe integration of elements (a)-(d) into a target gene in a cell suchthat the elements (b)-(d) are operatively linked to sequences of theendogenous target gene. In another embodiment, the DNA constructscomprise: (a) one or more targeting sequences, (b) a regulatorysequence, (c) an exon, (d) a splice-donor site, (e) an intron, and (f) asplice-acceptor site, wherein the targeting sequence directs theintegration of elements (a)-(f) such that the elements of (b)-(f) areoperatively linked to the endogenous gene. The targeting sequence ishomologous to the preselected site in the cellular chromosomal DNA withwhich homologous recombination is to occur. In the construct, the exonis generally 3′ of the regulatory sequence and the splice-donor site is3′ of the exon.

If the sequence of a particular gene is known, such as the nucleic acidsequence encoding an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide presented herein, apiece of DNA that is complementary to a selected region of the gene canbe synthesized or otherwise obtained, such as by appropriate restrictionof the native DNA at specific recognition sites bounding the region ofinterest. This piece serves as a targeting sequence(s) upon insertioninto the cell and will hybridize to its homologous region within thegenome. If this hybridization occurs during DNA replication, this pieceof DNA, and any additional sequence attached thereto, will act as anOkazaki fragment and will be incorporated into the newly synthesizeddaughter strand of DNA. The present invention, therefore, includesnucleotides encoding a IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, whichnucleotides may be used as targeting sequences.

IL-17 receptor like polypeptide cell therapy, e.g., the implantation ofcells producing IL-17 receptor like polypeptides, is also contemplated.This embodiment involves implanting cells capable of synthesizing andsecreting a biologically active form of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide.Such IL-17 receptor like polypeptide-producing cells can be cells thatare natural producers of IL-17 receptor like polypeptides or may berecombinant cells whose ability to produce IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides has been augmented by transformation with a gene encodingthe desired IL-17 receptor like polypeptide or with a gene augmentingthe expression of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide. Such a modificationmay be accomplished by means of a vector suitable for delivering thegene as well as promoting its expression and secretion. In order tominimize a potential immunological reaction in patients beingadministered an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, as may occur with theadministration of a polypeptide of a foreign species, it is preferredthat the natural cells producing IL-17 receptor like polypeptide be ofhuman origin and produce human IL-17 receptor like polypeptide.Likewise, it is preferred that the recombinant cells producing IL-17receptor like polypeptide be transformed with an expression vectorcontaining a gene encoding a human IL-17 receptor like polypeptide.

Implanted cells may be encapsulated to avoid the infiltration ofsurrounding tissue. Human or non-human animal cells may be implanted inpatients in biocompatible, semipermeable polymeric enclosures ormembranes that allow the release of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, butthat prevent the destruction of the cells by the patient's immune systemor by other detrimental factors from the surrounding tissue.Alternatively, the patient's own cells, transformed to produce IL-17receptor like polypeptides ex vivo, may be implanted directly into thepatient without such encapsulation.

Techniques for the encapsulation of living cells are known in the art,and the preparation of the encapsulated cells and their implantation inpatients may be routinely accomplished. For example, Baetge et al.(WO95/05452; PCT/US94/09299) describe membrane capsules containinggenetically engineered cells for the effective delivery of biologicallyactive molecules. The capsules are biocompatible and are easilyretrievable. The capsules encapsulate cells transfected with recombinantDNA molecules comprising DNA sequences coding for biologically activemolecules operatively linked to promoters that are not subject to downregulation in vivo upon implantation into a mammalian host. The devicesprovide for the delivery of the molecules from living cells to specificsites within a recipient. In addition, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,892,538,5,011,472, and 5,106,627. A system for encapsulating living cells isdescribed in PCT Application no. PCT/US91/00157 of Aebischer et al. Seealso, PCT Application no. PCT/US91/00155 of Aebischer et al., Winn etal., Exper. Neurol., 113:322-329 (1991), Aebischer et al., Exper.Neurol., 111:269-275 (1991); and Tresco et al., ASAIO, 38:17-23 (1992).

In vivo and in vitro gene therapy delivery of IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides is also envisioned. One example of a gene therapy techniqueis to use the IL-17 receptor like gene (either genomic DNA, cDNA, and/orsynthetic DNA) encoding a IL-17 receptor like polypeptide which may beoperably linked to a constitutive or inducible promoter to form a “genetherapy DNA construct”. The promoter may be homologous or heterologousto the endogenous IL-17 receptor like gene, provided that it is activein the cell or tissue type into which the construct will be inserted.Other components of the gene therapy DNA construct may optionallyinclude, DNA molecules designed for site-specific integration (e.g.,endogenous sequences useful for homologous recombination),tissue-specific promoter, enhancer(s) or silencer(s), DNA moleculescapable of providing a selective advantage over the parent cell, DNAmolecules useful as labels to identify transformed cells, negativeselection systems, cell specific binding agents (as, for example, forcell targeting), cell-specific internalization factors, andtranscription factors to enhance expression by a vector as well asfactors to enable vector manufacture.

A gene therapy DNA construct can then be introduced into cells (eitherex vivo or in vivo) using viral or non-viral vectors. One means forintroducing the gene therapy DNA construct is by means of viral vectorsas described herein. Certain vectors, such as retroviral vectors, willdeliver the DNA construct to the chromosomal DNA of the cells, and thegene can integrate into the chromosomal DNA. Other vectors will functionas episomes, and the gene therapy DNA construct will remain in thecytoplasm.

In yet other embodiments, regulatory elements can be included for thecontrolled expression of the IL-17 receptor like gene in the targetcell. Such elements are turned on in response to an appropriateeffector. In this way, a therapeutic polypeptide can be expressed whendesired. One conventional control means involves the use of smallmolecule dimerizers or rapalogs (as described in WO9641865(PCT/US96/099486); WO9731898 (PCT/US97/03137) and WO9731899(PCT/US95/03157) used to dimerize chimeric proteins which contain asmall molecule-binding domain and a domain capable of initiatingbiological process, such as a DNA-binding protein or transcriptionalactivation protein. The dimerization of the proteins can be used toinitiate transcription of the transgene.

An alternative regulation technology uses a method of storing proteinsexpressed from the gene of interest inside the cell as an aggregate orcluster. The gene of interest is expressed as a fusion protein thatincludes a conditional aggregation domain which results in the retentionof the aggregated protein in the endoplasmic reticulum. The storedproteins are stable and inactive inside the cell. The proteins can bereleased, however, by administering a drug (e.g., small molecule ligand)that removes the conditional aggregation domain and thereby specificallybreaks apart the aggregates or clusters so that the proteins may besecreted from the cell. See, Science 287:816-817, and 826-830 (2000).

Other suitable control means or gene switches include, but are notlimited to, the following systems. Mifepristone (RU486) is used as aprogesterone antagonist. The binding of a modified progesterone receptorligand-binding domain to the progesterone antagonist activatestranscription by forming a dimer of two transcription factors which thenpass into the nucleus to bind DNA. The ligand binding domain is modifiedto eliminate the ability of the receptor to bind to the natural ligand.The modified steroid hormone receptor system is further described inU.S. Pat. No. 5,364,791; WO9640911, and WO9710337.

Yet another control system uses ecdysone (a fruit fly steroid hormone)which binds to and activates an ecdysone receptor (cytoplasmicreceptor). The receptor then translocates to the nucleus to bind aspecific DNA response element (promoter from ecdysone-responsive gene).The ecdysone receptor includes a transactivation domain/DNA-bindingdomain/ligand-binding domain to initiate transcription. The ecdysonesystem is further described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,578; WO9738117;WO9637609; and WO9303162.

Another control means uses a positive tetracycline-controllabletransactivator. This system involves a mutated tet repressor proteinDNA-binding domain (mutated tet R-4 amino acid changes which resulted ina reverse tetracycline-regulated transactivator protein, i.e., it bindsto a tet operator in the presence of tetracycline) linked to apolypeptide which activates transcription. Such systems are described inU.S. Pat. Nos. 5,464,758; 5,650,298 and 5,654,168.

Additional expression control systems and nucleic acid constructs aredescribed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,741,679 and 5,834,186, to InnovirLaboratories Inc.

In vivo gene therapy may be accomplished by introducing the geneencoding an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide into cells via localinjection of an IL-17 receptor like nucleic acid molecule or by otherappropriate viral or non-viral delivery vectors. Hefti, Neurobiology,25:1418-1435 (1994). For example, a nucleic acid molecule encoding anIL-17 receptor like polypeptide may be contained in an adeno-associatedvirus (AAV) vector for delivery to the targeted cells (e.g., Johnson,International Publication No. WO95/34670; International Application No.PCT/US95/07178). The recombinant AAV genome typically contains AAVinverted terminal repeats flanking a DNA sequence encoding an IL-17receptor like polypeptide operably linked to functional promoter andpolyadenylation sequences.

Alternative suitable viral vectors include, but are not limited to,retrovirus, adenovirus, herpes simplex virus, lentivirus, hepatitisvirus, parvovirus, papovavirus, poxvirus, alphavirus, coronavirus,rhabdovirus, paramyxovirus, and papilloma virus vectors. U.S. Pat. No.5,672,344 describes an in vivo viral-mediated gene transfer systeminvolving a recombinant neurotrophic HSV-1 vector. U.S. Pat. No.5,399,346 provides examples of a process for providing a patient with atherapeutic protein by the delivery of human cells which have beentreated in vitro to insert a DNA segment encoding a therapeutic protein.Additional methods and materials for the practice of gene therapytechniques are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,631,236 involving adenoviralvectors; U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,510 involving retroviral vectors; and U.S.Pat. No. 5,635,399 involving retroviral vectors expressing cytokines.

Nonviral delivery methods include, but are not limited to,liposome-mediated transfer, naked DNA delivery (direct injection),receptor-mediated transfer (ligand-DNA complex), electroporation,calcium phosphate precipitation, and microparticle bombardment (e.g.,gene gun). Gene therapy materials and methods may also include the useof inducible promoters, tissue-specific enhancer-promoters, DNAsequences designed for site-specific integration, DNA sequences capableof providing a selective advantage over the parent cell, labels toidentify transformed cells, negative selection systems and expressioncontrol systems (safety measures), cell-specific binding agents (forcell targeting), cell-specific internalization factors, andtranscription factors to enhance expression by a vector as well asmethods of vector manufacture. Such additional methods and materials forthe practice of gene therapy techniques are described in U.S. Pat. No.4,970,154 involving electroporation techniques; WO96/40958 involvingnuclear ligands; U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,559-describing alipoprotein-containing system for gene delivery; U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,954involving liposome carriers; U.S. Pat. No. 5,593,875 concerning methodsfor calcium phosphate transfection; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,050 whereinbiologically active particles are propelled at cells at a speed wherebythe particles penetrate the surface of the cells and become incorporatedinto the interior of the cells.

It is also contemplated that IL-17 receptor like gene therapy or celltherapy can further include the delivery of one or more additionalpolypeptide(s) in the same or a different cell (s). Such cells may beseparately introduced into the patient, or the cells may be contained ina single implantable device, such as the encapsulating membranedescribed above, or the cells may be separately modified by means ofviral vectors.

A means to increase endogenous IL-17 receptor like polypeptideexpression in a cell via gene therapy is to insert one or more enhancerelements into the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide promoter, where theenhancer element(s) can serve to increase transcriptional activity ofthe IL-17 receptor like gene. The enhancer element(s) used will beselected based on the tissue in which one desires to activate thegene(s); enhancer elements known to confer promoter activation in thattissue will be selected. For example, if a gene encoding a IL-17receptor like polypeptide is to be “turned on” in T-cells, the lckpromoter enhancer element may be used. Here, the functional portion ofthe transcriptional element to be added may be inserted into a fragmentof DNA containing the IL-17 receptor like polypeptide promoter (andoptionally, inserted into a vector and/or 5′ and/or 3′ flankingsequence(s), etc.) using standard cloning techniques. This construct,known as a “homologous recombination construct”, can then be introducedinto the desired cells either ex vivo or in vivo.

Gene therapy also can be used to decrease IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide expression by modifying the nucleotide sequence of theendogenous promoter(s). Such modification is typically accomplished viahomologous recombination methods. For example, a DNA molecule containingall or a portion of the promoter of the IL-17 receptor like gene(s)selected for inactivation can be engineered to remove and/or replacepieces of the promoter that regulate transcription. For example the TATAbox and/or the binding site of a transcriptional activator of thepromoter may be deleted using standard molecular biology techniques;such deletion can inhibit promoter activity thereby repressing thetranscription of the corresponding IL-17 receptor like gene. Thedeletion of the TATA box or the transcription activator binding site inthe promoter may be accomplished by generating a DNA constructcomprising all or the relevant portion of the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide promoter(s) (from the same or a related species as the IL-17receptor like gene(s) to be regulated) in which one or more of the TATAbox and/or transcriptional activator binding site nucleotides aremutated via substitution, deletion and/or insertion of one or morenucleotides. As a result, the TATA box and/or activator binding site hasdecreased activity or is rendered completely inactive. The constructwill typically contain at least about 500 bases of DNA that correspondto the native (endogenous) 5′ and 3′ DNA sequences adjacent to thepromoter segment that has been modified. The construct may be introducedinto the appropriate cells (either ex vivo or in vivo) either directlyor via a viral vector as described herein. Typically, the integration ofthe construct into the genomic DNA of the cells will be via homologousrecombination, where the 5′ and 3′ DNA sequences in the promoterconstruct can serve to help integrate the modified promoter region viahybridization to the endogenous chromosomal DNA.

Additional Uses of IL-17 Receptor Like Nucleic Acids and Polypeptides

Nucleic acid molecules of the present invention (including those that donot themselves encode biologically active polypeptides) may be used tomap the locations of the IL-17 receptor like gene and related genes onchromosomes. Mapping may be done by techniques known in the art, such asPCR amplification and in situ hybridization.

IL-17 receptor like nucleic acid molecules (including those that do notthemselves encode biologically active polypeptides), may be useful ashybridization probes in diagnostic assays to test, either qualitativelyor quantitatively, for the presence of an IL-17 receptor like DNA orcorresponding RNA in mammalian tissue or bodily fluid samples.

Other methods may also be employed where it is desirable to inhibit theactivity of one or more IL-17 receptor like polypeptides. Suchinhibition may be effected by nucleic acid molecules which arecomplementary to and hybridize to expression control sequences (triplehelix formation) or to IL-17 receptor like mRNA. For example, antisenseDNA or RNA molecules, which have a sequence that is complementary to atleast a portion of the selected IL-17 receptor like gene(s) can beintroduced into the cell. Antisense probes may be designed by availabletechniques using the sequence of IL-17 receptor like polypeptidedisclosed herein. Typically, each such antisense molecule will becomplementary to the start site (5′ end) of each selected IL-17 receptorlike gene. When the antisense molecule then hybridizes to thecorresponding IL-17 receptor like mRNA, translation of this mRNA isprevented or reduced. Antisense inhibitors provide information relatingto the decrease or absence of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide in acell or organism.

Alternatively, gene therapy may be employed to create adominant-negative inhibitor of one or more IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides. In this situation, the DNA encoding a mutant polypeptideof each selected IL-17 receptor like polypeptide can be prepared andintroduced into the cells of a patient using either viral or non-viralmethods as described herein. Each such mutant is typically designed tocompete with endogenous polypeptide in its biological role.

In addition, an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide, whether biologicallyactive or not, may be used as an immunogen, that is, the polypeptidecontains at least one epitope to which antibodies may be raised.Selective binding agents that bind to an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide(as described herein) may be used for in vivo and in vitro diagnosticpurposes, including, but not limited to, use in labeled form to detectthe presence of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide in a body fluid or cellsample. The antibodies may also be used to prevent, treat, or diagnose anumber of diseases and disorders, including those recited herein. Theantibodies may bind to an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide so as todiminish or block at least one activity characteristic of an IL-17receptor like polypeptide, or may bind to a polypeptide to increase atleast one activity characteristic of an IL-17 receptor like polypeptide(including by increasing the pharmacokinetics of the IL-17 receptor likepolypeptide).

EXAMPLE 1 Cloning of a First IL-17 Receptor Like Polypeptide

A 477 base pair EST sequence (termed “zhgb-aa287951”), was identifiedfrom the Amgenesis database. The 1392 bp full-length nucleotide sequenceof zhgb-aa287951 was then determined. PCR was performed for screening aplurality of human cDNA libraries. The human cDNA libraries wereprepared as follows: total RNA was extracted from various human tissuesusing standard RNA extraction procedures and poly-A⁺ RNA was selectedfrom this total RNA using standard procedures known to those skilled inthe art. Random primed or oligo(dT) primed cDNA was synthesized fromthis poly-A⁺ RNA using the procedure in the manual of the SuperscriptPlasmid System for cDNA Synthesis and Plasmid Cloning kit (Gibco-BRL,Inc., Rockville, Md.) or using other suitable procedures known to thoseskilled in the art. The resulting cDNA was digested with appropriaterestriction enzymes to create sticky o assist in ligation to a cloningvector. This digested cDNA was ligated into the PSPORT 1 cloning vector,or another suitable cloning vector known to those skilled in the art,that had been pre-digested with appropriate restriction enzymes. Theligation products were transformed into E. coli using standardtechniques known in the art, and transformants were selected onbacterial media plates containing either ampicillin, tetracycline,kanamycin or chloramphenicol, depending upon the specific cloning vectorused. The cDNA library consisted of all, or a subset, of thesetransformants.

Both 5′- and 3′-end RACE was carried out using plasmid DNAs preparedfrom positive libraries as template using a touchdown protocol asfollows. Briefly, the PCR conditions were as follows: 94° for 30seconds; 5 cycles of 94° for 5 seconds and 72° for 2 minutes; 5 cyclesof 94° for 5 seconds and 70° for 2 minutes; 25 cycles of 94° for 5seconds and 68° for 2 minutes 30 seconds; followed by a final extensionof 72° for 7 minutes and 4° hold. This reaction used 50 ng of each cDNAlibrary, 10 pmol of each primer, 200 μM dNTP's (final concentration),and a 1× concentration of Clontech's Advantage-HF2 cDNA Polymerase Mix(Cat# K1914-1) in a 50 μl final volume. A nested PCR reaction was doneon the primary RACE products. The final PCR products were then subclonedand their nucleotide sequences determined. The PCR-derived DNA fragmentswere used as probes for screening cDNA libraries and cloning of the cDNAfor this gene. PCR was used for both 5′ RACE and 3′ RACE reactions onthe seven positive libraries using a touchdown protocol. The 5′ RACEprimers used gene specific primer 2429-59 (5′ GCA GAC ACT GAG AGC ATTGTA ATC-3′; SEQ ID NO: 8) and a library vector (pCMV-SPORT) primer1916-83 (5′-GGC TCG TAT GTT GTG TGG AAT TGT GAG CG-3′; SEQ ID NO: 9).The 3′ RACE primers used gene specific primer 2429-56 (5′-AGG ATC AAAACT TTC TTT TCT AC-3′: SEQ ID NO: 10) and a library vector primer1918-80 (5′-TGC AAG GCG ATT AAG TTG GGT AAC GCC AG-3′; SEQ ID NO: 11).

The PCR conditions were the same as described above. A nested PCRreaction was done on the above sample using 5 μl of a 1:50 dilution ofthe first round PCR 5′ and 3′ RACE products, 10 pmol each of a nestedgene specific primer and a nested vector primer. For 5′-nested RACE thegene specific and vector primers were 5′-GCC GAC GGG GAC GTG GAT GAAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 12) and 5′-CAT GAT TAC GCC AAG CTC TAA TAC GAC TC-3′(SEQ ID NO: 13), respectively. For the 3′-nested RACE the primers were5′-CTT CGC CGA GTG CCT GTG CAG-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 14) and 5′-TCA CGA CGT TGTAAA ACG ACG GCC AGT G-3′ (SEQ ID NO: 15), respectively). The remainingreagents and PCR reaction protocol were identical to those used for theprimary RACE reactions.

Ten microliters of the final product from the nested RACE was run on a1% TBE agarose gel at 5V/cm. Well defined single bands were isolatedfrom the gel and purified using the Qiagen gel extraction kit(Cat#28704) and submitted for sequencing.

EXAMPLE 2 Cloning of Second and Third IL-17 Receptor Like Isoforms

For cloning of the second and the third isoforms of the IL-17 receptorlike molecule, two new gene specific primers were used for further PCRreaction on the positive libraries. These primers were as follows:2469-50 (5′-GCG ATG TCG CTC GTG CTG CTA AG-3′; SEQ ID NO: 16) and2469-54 (5′-GCA GCC TGG TGA GGT GAA ATT CAC-3′; SEQ ID NO: 17). The PCRconditions used in these reactions were as follows: 94° for 2 minutes;35 cycles of 94° for 30 seconds, 66° for 30 seconds and 72° for 45seconds, followed by a final extension of 72° for 7 minutes and 4° hold.This reaction used 50 ng of each cDNA library, 10 pmol of each primer,200 μM dNTP's (final concentration), and a 1× concentration ofClontech's Advantage-HF2 cDNA Polymerase Mix (Cat# K1914-1) in a 50 μlfinal volume.

Ten microliters of the product was run on a 1% TBE agarose gel at 5V/cm.Well defined single bands were isolated from the gel and purified usingthe Qiagen gel extraction kit (Cat#28704) and submitted for sequencing.

EXAMPLE 3 Presence and Distribution of mRNA in Different Tissues

PCR was used to screen a panel of 77 human tissue libraries prepared byusing 2.5 pmol each of primers 2429-56 and 2429-59 and 50 ng librarycDNA (Ready-to-go PCR Beads Amersham Pharmacia Biotech Cat#27-9553). PCRConditions were 94° for 2 minutes; followed by 35 cycles of 94° for 30seconds; 66° For 30 seconds; 72° for 45 seconds; final extension of 72°for 7 minutes and 4° hold. A 440 bp band was identified in 40 sourceswith varying signal intensity. The results were as follows:

Level of Tissue Source expression Fetal pancrease +++ Fetal scalp +++Fetal gall bladder +++ Cerebellum +++ Pons/medulla +++ (midbrain) LNVblock 10 +++ lymphoma cell lines +++ Prostate tumor T1175 +++ Prostatetumor T1940 +++ Colon tumor T24 +++ Ovary tumor T22 +++ Colon tumor T25+++ Fetal stomach ++ Fetal bladder ++ Fetal kidney ++ Fetal liver ++Fetal ovary ++ Fetal femur ++ Fetal calveria ++ Fetal mesentery ++ Fetalspleen ++ Fetal lung ++ Fetal heart ++ Forebrain ++ Testis ++ Trachea ++Bone (limb) ++ Spinal column ++ Thalamus ++ (midbrain) LNV block10 ++Breast tumor T1485 ++ Breast tumor T1543 ++ Ovary tumor T23 ++ Lungtumor T27 ++ Adult T-cells ++ Cytoplasmic breast- ++ Carcinoma celllines Fetal thymus + Placenta + Uterus + Normalized Fetal tissues +

EXAMPLE 4 Production of IL-17 Receptor Like Polypeptides

A. Bacterial Expression

PCR is used to amplify template DNA sequences encoding a IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide using primers corresponding to the 5′ and 3′ ends ofthe sequence. The amplified DNA products may be modified to containrestriction enzyme sites to allow for insertion into expression vectors.PCR products are gel purified and inserted into expression vectors usingstandard recombinant DNA methodology. An exemplary vector, such aspAMG21 (ATCC No. 98113) containing the lux promoter and a gene encodingkanamycin resistance is digested with BamHI and NdeI for directionalcloning of inserted DNA. The ligated mixture is transformed into an E.coli host strain by electroporation and transformants are selected forkanamycin resistance. Plasmid DNA from selected colonies is isolated andsubjected to DNA sequencing to confirm the presence of the insert.

Transformed host cells are incubated in 2×YT medium containing 30 g/mlkanamycin at 30° C. prior to induction. Gene expression is induced bythe addition of N-(3-oxohexanoyl)-dl-homoserine lactone to a finalconcentration of30 ng/ml followed by incubation at either 30° C. or 37°C. for six hours. The expression of IL-17 receptor like polypeptide isevaluated by centrifugation of the culture, resuspension and lysis ofthe bacterial pellets, and analysis of host cell proteins bySDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis.

Inclusion bodies containing IL-17 receptor like polypeptide are purifiedas follows. Bacterial cells are pelleted by centrifugation andresuspended in water. The cell suspension is lysed by sonication andpelleted by centrifugation at 195,000×g for 5 to 10 minutes. Thesupernatant is discarded, and the pellet is washed and transferred to ahomogenizer. The pellet is homogenized in 5 ml of a Percoll solution(75% liquid Percoll. 0.15M NaCl) until uniformly suspended and thendiluted and centrifuged at 21,600×g for 30 minutes. Gradient fractionscontaining the inclusion bodies are recovered and pooled. The isolatedinclusion bodies are analyzed by SDS-PAGE.

A single band on an SDS polyacrylamide gel corresponding to E. coliproduced IL-17 receptor like polypeptide is excised from the gel, andthe N-terminal amino acid sequence is determined essentially asdescribed by Matsudaira et al., J. Biol. Chem., 262:10-35 (1987).

B. Mammalian Cell Production

PCR is used to amplify template DNA sequences encoding a IL-17 receptorlike polypeptide using primers corresponding to the 5′ and 3′ ends ofthe sequence. The primer sequences corresponding to the 5′ and 3′ endsare described above. The amplified DNA products may be modified tocontain restriction enzyme sites to allow for insertion into expressionvectors. PCR products are gel purified and inserted into expressionvectors using standard recombinant DNA methodology. An exemplaryexpression vector, pCEP4 (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif.), which containsan Epstein-Barr virus origin of replication, may be used for theexpression of IL-17 receptor like in 293-EBNA-1 (Epstein-Barr virusnuclear antigen) cells. Amplified and gel purified PCR products areligated into pCEP4 vector and lipofected into 293-EBNA cells. Thetransfected cells are selected in 100 g/ml hygromycin and the resultingdrug-resistant cultures are grown to confluence. The cells are thencultured in serum-free media for 72 hours. The conditioned media isremoved and, IL-17 receptor like polypeptide expression is analyzed bySDS-PAGE.

IL-17 receptor like polypeptide expression may be detected by silverstaining. Alternatively, IL-17 receptor like polypeptide is produced asa fusion protein with an epitope tag, such as an IgG constant domain ora FLAG epitope, which may be detected by Western blot analysis usingantibodies to the tag peptide.

IL-17 receptor like polypeptides may be excised from anSDS-polyacrylamide gel, or IL-17 receptor like fusion proteins arepurified by affinity chromatography to the epitope tag, and subjected toN-terminal amino acid sequence analysis as described herein.

EXAMPLE 5 Production of Anti-IL-17 Receptor Like Polypeptide Antibodies

Antibodies to IL-17 receptor like polypeptides may be obtained byimmunization with purified protein or with IL-17 receptor like peptidesproduced by biological or chemical synthesis. Suitable procedures forgenerating antibodies include those described in Hudson and Hay,Practical Immunology, 2nd Edition, Blackwell Scientific Publications:(1980).

In one procedure for the production of antibodies, animals (typicallymice or rabbits) are injected with a IL-17 receptor like antigen (suchas a IL-17 receptor like polypeptide), and those with sufficient serumtiter levels as determined by ELISA are selected for hybridomaproduction. Spleens of immunized animals are collected and prepared assingle cell suspensions from which splenocytes are recovered. Thesplenocytes are fused to mouse myeloma cells (such as Sp2/0-Ag14 cells;ATCC no. CRL-1581), allowed to incubate in DMEM with 200 U/mlpenicillin, 200 g/ml streptomycin sulfate, and 4 mM glutamine, thenincubated in HAT selection medium (Hypoxanthine; Aminopterin;Thymidine). After selection, the tissue culture supernatants are takenfrom each well containing a hybridoma and tested for anti-IL-17 receptorlike antibody production by ELISA.

Alternative procedures for obtaining anti-IL-17 receptor like antibodiesmay also be employed, such as the immunization of transgenic miceharboring human Ig loci for the production of human antibodies, and thescreening of synthetic antibody libraries, such as those generated bymutagenesis of an antibody variable domain.

EXAMPLE 6 Recombinant Human IL-17 Receptor Like-Fc Fusion Protein

To prepare IL-17 receptor like-Fc fusion proteins, the extra-cellulardomain of the human IL-17 receptor like polypeptide (amino acid #1-292for IL-17RB-2, amino acid #1-350 for IL-17RB-3, SEQ ID NOS: 2 and 5respectively) was fused to the human IgG1 heavy chain constant region(Fc). The DNA fragment encoding the human Fc (amino acid sequence setout in SEQ ID NO: 21) with a NotI restriction site at its 5′ end andXhoI restriction site at its 3′ end were directionally ligated intopCEP4 vector using NotI and XhoI sites. The resulting vector containingthe Fc coding sequence in pCEP4 is referred to as pCEP4-Fc vector. DNAfragments encoding the extra-cellular domain of the human IL-17RB-2 orIL-17RB-3 (SEQ ID NOS: 2 and 5 respectively), with an Hind IIIrestriction site and kozak sequence (CCACC) at their 5′ end and a NotIrestriction site at their 3′ end, were generated by PCR. These DNAfragments were directionally ligated into the pCEP4-Fc expression vectorusing the Hind III and NotI restriction sites and were denoted aspCEP4-huIL-17RB-2 like-Fc or pCEP4-huIL-17RB-3 like-Fc. The integrity ofthe DNA and the junction sites were confirmed by DNA sequencing usingstandard methods known in the art.

The pCEP4-huIL-17RB-2 like-Fc plasmid or pCEP4-huIL-17RB-3 like-Fcplasmid (also denoted HIL-17RB-2-Fc and HIL17RB-3-Fc, respectively, anddeposited on Mar. 14, 2001 with the American Type Culture Collection,10801 University Blvd., Manassas, Va. 20110, U.S.A. under Accession Nos.PTA-3174 and PTA-3178, respectively) were transiently transfected intohuman 293/EBNA cells using Superfect (Qiagen) according to themanufacturer's instructions. The serum-free conditioned media washarvested from the cells 72 hours after transfection. The recombinanthuman IL-17RB like-Fc fusion proteins, predicted to have the amino acidsequence APS located at the amino-terminus of the mature protein, wereisolated by affinity chromatography using a HiTrap Protein G column(Amersham Pharmacia). The amino acid sequences of the resulting fusionproteins are set out in FIG. 22 (IL-17RB-2-Fc fusion protein; SEQ ID NO:24) and FIG. 23 (IL-17RB-3-Fc fusion protein; SEQ ID NO: 25).

The recombinant human IL-17RB like-Fc fusion proteins were dialyzedagainst PBS buffer for 72 hours at 4° C. using Spectra/Pore MembraneMWCO 10,000 (Spectrum Laboratories). Subsequently, the recombinant humanIL-17RB like-Fc fusion proteins were electrophoresed on a 10% acrylamidegel (Novex) and stained with Coomassie-Blue. The stained gel was scannedwith a denstitometer to determine the percent representation of theprotein band of interest. Modified Lowry Protein Assay Reagent (Pierce)was used to determine the total protein concentration according to themanufacturer's instructions. Then, the amount of human IL-17 receptorlike-Fc fusion protein were calculated by multiplying the percentage ofIL-17RB like-Fc fusion proteins by the total protein concentration.

The IL-17RB fusion proteins can also be generated with an Epogen signalpeptide (MGVHECPAWLWLLLSLLSLPLGLPVLG (SEQ ID NO: 20) fused in frame intothe predicted mature protein instead of fusing to the nativeextra-cellular domain as described above.

EXAMPLE 7 Recombinant Human IL-17E-Fc Fusion Protein

IL-17E was cloned as described in Example 1 of co-owned, concurrentlyfiled U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/810,384 entitled “IL-17 likeMolecules and Uses Thereof” (attorney docket no. 01017/37128A), herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety. An Epogen signal peptide(EpoSP) fused in frame to the predicted mature protein of the humanIL-17E (SEQ ID NO: 23) that was fused in frame to the IgG1 heavy chainconstant region (Fc) was engineered as follows to make recombinantmature human IL-17E-Fc fusion protein. The EpoSP DNA encoding for theamino acid sequence MGVHECPAWLWLLLSLLSLPLGLPVLG (SEQ ID NO: 20) wasinserted into the pCEP4 expression vector (Invitrogen) in between aconsensus Kozak sequence (CCACC) at its 5′ end and an AscI site at its3′ end. In addition, the Fc DNA fragment encoding for the amino acidsequence set out in SEQ ID NO: 12 and a NotI restriction site at the 5′end of the sequence was inserted at the 3′ end of the EpoSP (SEQ ID NO:20). A thymidine was inserted immediately after the NotI restrictionsite in order to keep the coding frame the same. The resulting vectorcontaining the EpoSP and the Fc in pCEP4 is referred to aspCEP4-EpoSP-Fc vector.

A DNA fragment, containing an AscI restriction site at the 5′ end and aNotI restriction site at the 3′ end, coding for the mature human IL-17Eprotein (SEQ ID NO: 23) without the stop codon was generated by PCR. Themature human IL-17E protein starts at amino acid number 17 (aa17) withthe starting methionine as amino acid number one. The AscI site, whichcontains a thymidine, was inserted immediately before the codoncontaining aa17 in order to keep the coding frame the same. The humanIL-17E fragment was directionally ligated into the pCEP4-EpoSP-Fcexpression vector using the AscI and NotI restriction sites and wasdenoted as pCEP4-EpoSP-huIL-17E-Fc. The integrity of the DNA and thejunction sites were confirmed by DNA sequencing using standard methodsknown in the art.

The pCEP4-EpoSP-IL-17E-Fc plasmid was transiently transfected into human293/EBNA cells using Superfect (Qiagen) according to the manufacturer'sinstructions. The serum-free conditioned media was harvested from thecells 72 hours after transfection. The recombinant human IL-17E-Fcfusion protein, predicted to have the amino acid sequence APS located atthe amino-terminus of the mature protein, was isolated by affinitychromatography using a HiTrap Protein G column (Amersham Pharmacia). Therecombinant human IL-17E-Fc fusion protein was then dialyzed against PBSbuffer for 72 hours at 4° C. using Spectra/Pore Membrane MWCO 10,000(Spectrum Laboratories). Subsequently, the recombinant human IL-17E-Fcfusion protein was electrophoresed on a 10% acrylamide gel (Novex) andstained with Coomassie-Blue. The stained gel was scanned with adenstitometer to determine the percent representation of the proteinband of interest. Modified Lowry Protein Assay Reagent (Pierce) was usedto determine the total protein concentration according to themanufacturer's instructions. Then, the amount of human IL-17E-Fc fusionprotein was calculated by multiplying the percentage of IL-17E-Fc fusionprotein by the total protein concentration.

EXAMPLE 8 IL-17E Polypeptide Binds to the IL-17 Receptor LikePolypeptides

To determine if IL-17E polypeptide (SEQ ID NO: 23) is a ligand for theIL-17 receptor like polypeptides (SEQ ID NO: 2 and/or 5; IL-17RB-2and/or IL-17RB-3 respectively), competitive binding assays wereperformed with the human B-lymphoblast cell line GM3104A which has beenshown to express IL-17 receptor like polypeptide by Northern Blot andRT-PCR analyses. The conditioned media from 293E cells transfected toexpress IL-17E-Fc fusion protein (SEQ ID NO: 23), prepared as describedin Example 7 above, was collected, concentrated and used for the bindingassay. Specificity of ligand binding was determined by competition withsoluble blocking receptors, either IL-17RB-2-Fc or IL-17RB-3-Fc fusionproteins (SEQ ID NOS: 22 or 23, respectively). IL-17R-Fc fusion protein(consisting of the extracellular domain of SEQ ID NO: 3) was purifiedfrom conditioned media collected from transfected 293E cells and used asa control. Conditioned media from 293E cells transfected withIL-17RB-2-Fc or IL-17-RB-3-Fc (deposited with the ATCC on Mar. 14, 2001under Accession Nos. PTA-3174 and PTA-3178 respectively), as describedin Example 6 above, was concentrated (5×) with an Amicon 3 Kd cut-offCentracon (#4203) and used for blocking.

Prior to the binding assay, 0.5 ml of IL-17E-Fc fusion proteincontaining (1×) conditioned media was added into vials each containing0.5 ml 5× conditioned media of IL-17RB-2-Fc, IL-17RB-3-Fc, or 0.5 ml of5 μg/ml IL-17R-Fc protein in RPMI 1640. Each vial was incubated on icefor 2 hours.

Subsequently, GM3104A cells (1×10⁶ cells per sample) were incubated with1 ml of 8% FBS/PBS, at 4° C. for 1 hour. The cells were then washed with0.5% BSA/PBS and incubated with 1 ml of untransfected 293E cellconditioned media, conditioned media containing IL-17E-Fc or conditionedmedia containing IL-17E-Fc pre-incubated with blocking receptor(IL-17RB-2 or IL-17RB-3) for 2 hours at 4° C. with gentle shaking. Afterthe incubation, the cells were washed 3 times with 1 ml of ice-cold 0.5%BSA/PBS.

Each cell sample was stained with 2 μg/100 μl goat anti humanIgG-Fc-FITC (Chemicon, AP113F) diluted in 0.5% BSA/PBS. The cells wereincubated on ice for 1 hour and washed 3 times with 1 ml of ice-cold0.5% BSA/PBS. Subsequently, ligand binding was detected withfluorescence-activated cell sorter analysis using FACScan (BectonDickinson). This analysis indicated that IL-17E-FC fusion protein boundto GM3104A cells. This binding was inhibited by IL-17RB-2 and IL-17RB-3(isoforms of the present invention) but not IL-17 R.

EXAMPLE 10 IL-17E Polypeptide Induces Expression of ProinflammatoryCytokines

Since IL-17E polypeptide has been shown to bind to the IL-17 receptorsof the present invention (SEQ ID NO: 2 and 5), effects of IL-17Epolypeptide on the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines can becorrelated with activation of the IL-17 receptors of the presentinvention.

The conditioned media from 293E cells expressing either IL-17E-Fc fusionprotein, IL-17B-Fc, IL-17C-Fc or IL-17D-Fc, was collected to use asligand in the assay. Conditioned media containing IL-17B-Fc, IL-17C-Fc,IL-17D-Fc, and IL-17E-Fc were then concentrated (15×) using a 3 Kdcut-off Centracon (Amicon, #4032), and reconstituted to 1× medium byadding fresh 20% FBS/1640 media.

Human B-lymphoblast cells (GM3104A, 1×10⁶ cell/sample) were cultured inreconstituted concentrated condition media which contained each IL-17ligand (IL-17E-Fc polypeptide, IL-17B-Fc, IL-17C-Fc, IL-17D-Fc and humanFc). After incubation for 18 hours at 37° C. and 5% CO₂, the media werecollected and the amount of IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IFN-γ, G-CSF, and TNF-αreleased into the media was measured with the appropriate QuantikineImmunoassay kit (R&D Systems) following the manufacturer's instructions.The results are summarized in table III. IL-17E-FC fusion proteininduced the release of TNF-α, IL-1α, and IL-6 to a much greater extentthan the other IL-17 ligands tested. Induction of IL-1β, IFN-γ, andG-CSF was not detected for any of the ligands.

TABLE III TNF-α IL-1α IL-6 Ligand (pg/ml) (pg/ml) (pg/ml) Mock CM 190 6157.6 Human Fc 210 8 199 IL-17B 180 11 138 IL-17C 170 8 152 IL-17D 18022 155 IL-17 like 460 25 362

EXAMPLE 9 IL-17E Overexpressing Transgenic Mice

As described in Example 7, IL-17E polypeptide is a ligand for the IL-17like receptors of the present invention. The following examples describetransgenic mice which are overexpressing IL-17E polypeptide. Theinformation from these mice is useful in determining the biologicaleffects of activation and/or overexpression of the IL-17 receptors ofthe present invention.

A. Transgene Preparation.

The coding region of human IL-17E cDNA (SEQ ID NO: 22) with an alteredKozak sequence, CCACC, immediately upstream of the initiating ATG, wasligated into a liver-specific expression vector. The expression vectorconsisted of a 774-bp DNA fragment containing the hepatocyte controlregion (HCR) from the human apolipoprotein (apo) C-I/C-I′ intergenicregion on chromosome 19 (Simonet et al., J. Biol. Chem., 268:8221-8229,1993). The vector also contained a 1450-bp continuous piece of DNA whichconsisted of the human apoE gene 5′-flanking sequence, the first exon,the first intron and a portion of the second exon of the apoE gene(Simonet et al., J. Clin. Invest., 94:1310-1319, 1994). An SV40polyadenylation signal was located downstream of the cDNA insert sites.The integrity of the cDNA was verified by sequencing using standardmethods known in the art.

B. Preparation and Analysis of IL-17E Overexpressing Transgenic Mice.

The resulting plasmid (denoted herein as ApoE-hIL-17) was purified andthe transgene insert was isolated for microinjection. Single-cellembryos from BDF1×BDF1-bred mice were injected essentially as describedin Brinster et al. (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 82:4438-4442, 1985).Embryos were cultured overnight in a 37° C. and 5% CO₂ incubator.Subsequently, 15 to 20 2-cell embryos were transferred to the oviductsof thirteen pseudopregnant CD1 female mice. Transgenic offsprings wereidentified by PCR screening with primers that amplify a 368-bp fragmentof the human apoE first intron from DNA prepared from ear biopsies asdescribed in Simonet et al. (J. Clin. Invest., 94:1310-1319, 1994).

EXAMPLE 11 Necropsy Analysis of IL-17E Overexpressing Transgenic Mice

At 8-10 weeks of age, 10 IL-17E overexpressing transgenic mice and fivenon-transgenic littermates were necropsied. Liver samples from the micewere flash frozen in liquid nitrogen at the time of necropsy. RNAs wereisolated from each sample using the Perfect RNA Kit (Eppendorf)according to the manufacturer's instructions and analyzed by Northernblot analysis.

The Northern blot was generated by running 10 μg of RNA diluted in 1×RNA Loading Dye (Sigma) on a 1% formaldehyde-agarose gel. The gel wasdenatured in 50 mM NaOH and 150 and 55 mM NaCl. Subsequently, the gelwas neutralized in 0.1 M Tris-HCl (pH 7.0) and 150 mM NaCl and blottedonto a Duralon membrane according to the manufacturer's instructions(Stratagene). The Northern blot was probed with a ³²P-labeled humanIL-17E cDNA generated by the Rediprime System (Amersham). Hybridizationwas carried out in Express Hyb Solution and then washed according to themanufacturer's instructions. The hybridized blot was exposed to X-rayfilm (Kodak) for 72 hours at −80° C. and then developed.

The Northern blot analysis indicated that the transgenic founder micehad increased expression of the IL-17E RNA as compared with thenon-transgenic littermates. Of the 10 mice tested, those denoted as nos.29, 52, 55, 61 and 66 had the highest level of IL-17E RNA expression.(See FIG. 8)

B. Expression Analysis on the Remaining Founders

Livers from the remaining transgenic founder mice along with controlmice, were obtained by partial hepatectomy. The mice were anesthesizedby isoflourane and a small transverse incision below the xyphoid processon the sternum was made to expose the liver. A suture was placed aroundthe lobe of liver selected for excision at the point of attachment. Thelobe of liver was ligated and removed by cutting below the ligature andflash frozen in liquid nitrogen. The mouse was then checked for bleedingand the skin incision was closed with 1-2 autoclips (skin staples). RNAwas isolation from the liver and Northern blot analysis was carried outas described above. The hybridized blot was exposed to X-ray film(Kodak) for 24 hours at −80° C. and then developed.

Northern blot analysis on the remaining founders indicated that thesemice expressed higher levels of IL-17E RNA in the liver as compared withnon-transgenic littermates.

The mice denoted as nos. 11, 30, 33, 46 and 68 expressed the highestlevels of IL-17 RNA. (See FIG. 9).

EXAMPLE 12 Pathological Analysis of IL-17E Overexpressing TransgenicMice

A. Necropsy

In this study, seven, 6-8 week old, IL-17E overexpressing mice as wellas five, 6-8 week old, non-transgenic littermates (two males and threefemales) were pathologically analyzed for a potential IL-17E phenotype.Mice nos. 29, 52, 61 and 66 were strongly positive for hepaticexpression of IL-17E mRNA, while mice nos. 1, 16 and 55 were weaklypositive. The five non-trangenic control mice (nos. 2, 17, 28, 53 and65) were negative. At necropsy, mice were weighed, blood was drawn forhematology and serum chemistries, and liver, spleen, kidney, heart, andthymus were weighed. Sections of liver, spleen, lung, brain, heart,kidney, adrenal, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, cecum, colon,mesenteric lymph node, skin, mammary gland, trachea, esophagus, thyroid,parathyroid, salivary gland, urinary bladder, ovary or testis, uterus orseminal vesicle, skeletal muscle, bone, and bone marrow were harvestedfor histologic analysis.

B. Histology

Sections of liver, spleen, lung, brain, heart, kidney, adrenal, stomach,small intestine, pancreas, cecum, colon, mesenteric lymph node, skin,mammary gland, trachea, esophagus, thyroid, parathyroid, salivary gland,urinary bladder, ovary or testis, uterus or seminal vesicle, skeletalmuscle, bone, and bone marrow from the IL-17E transgenic andnon-transgenic mice were fixed overnight in 10% neutral buffered zincformalin (Anatech, Battle Creek, Mich.), paraffin embedded, sectioned at3 μm, and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) for routinehistologic examination.

C. Immunohistochemistry

Immunohistochemical staining was performed on 4 μm thick paraffinembedded sections using an automated DPC Mark 5 Histochemical StainingSystem (Diagnostic Products Corp, Randolph, N.J.). Deparaffinized tissuesections were blocked with CAS BLOCK (Zymed Laboratories, San Francisco,Calif.), incubated with a rat anti-mouse monoclonal antibody directedagainst macrophages (F4/80, Serotec Inc., Raleigh, N.C.) or a ratanti-mouse CD45R/B220 monoclonal antibody directed against all types ofB cells (PharMingen, San Diego, Calif.). The primary antibody wasdetected using a biotinylated rabbit anti-rat immunoglobulin secondaryantibody (Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, Calif.). Sections were thenquenched with 3% hydrogen peroxide and reacted with an avidin-biotincomplex tertiary (Vector Laboratories). The staining reaction wasvisualized with diaminobenzidine (DAB, Dako Carpinteria, Calif.) andsections were counterstained with hematoxylin.

D. Gross Pathology Findings

Mesenteric lymph nodes from the four high expressing IL-17E transgenicmice (nos. 29, 52, 61 and 66) plus one of the low expressing mice (no.55) were markedly increased in size. Similarly, the spleens from thesefive IL-17E transgenic mice were enlarged and exhibited a significantincrease in weight (1.08±0.27 SD % of body weight vs. 0.37±0.12 SD % ofbody weight in non-transgenic control mice, p=0.0007). Mesenteric lymphnodes and spleens from two other low expressing transgenic mice (nos. 1and 16) appeared normal. The raw organ weight data is shown in Table IVand significant differences are summarized in Table VI.

TABLE IV Raw Organ Weights for IL-17E Transgenic Mice vs. Non-TransgenicMice Group Sex TBW Liver % BW Spln % BW Heart % BW Kidneys % BW Thymus %BW Non- Transgenic  2 F 21.8 0.923 4.23 0.070 0.32 0.121 0.56 0.351 1.610.061 0.28 17 F 20.5 0.912 4.45 0.089 0.43 0.112 0.55 0.273 1.33 0.0480.23 28 F 22.5 1.125 5 0.123 0.55 0.127 0.56 0.398 1.77 0.058 0.26 53 M25.8 1.315 5.1 0.076 0.29 0.140 0.54 0.423 1.64 0.031 0.12 65 M 29 1.455 0.082 0.28 0.169 0.58 0.523 1.8 0.055 0.19 Mean 4.76 0.37 0.56 1.630.22 St. 0.39 0.12 0.01 0.19 0.06 Dev. IL- 17E Transgenic  1 F 31.91.406 4.41 0.118 0.37 0.151 0.47 0.433 1.36 0.071 0.22 16 F 22.5 1.1214.98 0.085 0.38 0.115 0.51 0.350 1.56 0.061 0.27 29 F 24.4 1.439 5.900.333 1.36 0.123 0.5 0.861 3.53 0.061 0.25 52 M 25.6 1.583 6.18 0.2230.87 0.129 0.5 0.356 1.39 0.074 0.29 55 F 19.1 1.181 6.18 0.196 1.030.122 0.64 0.388 2.03 0.04 0.21 61 F 24.5 1.401 5.72 0.190 0.78 0.1180.48 0.372 1.52 0.059 0.24 66 M 25 1.47 5.88 0.338 1.35 0.162 0.65 0.4331.73 0.026 0.1 Mean 5.61 0.88 0.54 1.87 0.23 St. 0.67 0.41 0.08 0.760.06 Dev.E. Hematology Findings

Four of the five IL-17E transgenic mice with enlarged mesenteric lymphnodes and spleens (the blood from mice nos. 29, 52, 55, 61 and 66clotted and could not be evaluated) had moderate to marked increases intotal leukocytes, neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils, and largeunstained cells (possibly large granular lymphocytes). The mean totalleukocyte count for these four IL-17E transgenic mice was 11.93×10³(±4.47×10³ SD) while non-transgenic control mice had a mean totalleukocyte count of 3.09×10³ (±0.79×10³ SD, p=0.003). The mean neutrophilcount in these four IL-17E transgenic mice was 2.29×10³ (±0.67×10³ SD)vs. 0.92×10³ (±0.53×10³ SD) in non-transgenic control mice, p=0.032.These four IL-17E transgenic mice had a mean lymphocyte count of6.76×10³ (±2.32×10³) vs. 1.99×10³ (±0.38×10³ SD) in non-transgeniccontrol mice, p=0.0025, a mean eosinophil count of 1.35×10³ (±0.96×10³SD) vs. 0.03×10³ (±0.01×10³ SD) in non-transgenic control mice, p=0.017,and a mean large unstained cell count of 1.41×10³ (±1.11×10³ SD) vs.0.10×10³ (±0.05×10³ SD) in non-transgenic control mice, p=0.031. Two ofthe IL-17E transgenic mice (nos. 55 and 66) also had a mild anemiacharacterized by a slight decrease in red blood cell number, hemoglobin,and hematocrit as well as slightly elevated platelet counts. The rawhematology data is shown in Table 2 and significant differences aresummarized in Table 3.

TABLE V Raw Hematology Data for IL-17E Transgenic Mice vs. Non-Transgenic Mice Group WBC RBC HGB HCT PLT MPV Neut Lymph Mono Eos BasoLUC Non- Transgenic  2 2.52 9.39 13.9 48.9 1179 5.0 0.69 1.64 0.02 0.030.01 0.13 17 3.48 10.12 15.1 50.9 938 5.1 0.72 2.63 0.02 0.04 0.01 0.0628 2.45 9.51 14.8 49.5 1013 5.7 0.37 2.00 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.05 53 2.7010.67 16.1 55.9 1353 5.0 0.61 1.88 0.04 0.04 0.01 0.11 65 4.30 11.5517.8 61.4 1362 4.5 2.20 1.81 0.11 0.02 0.01 0.16 Mean 3.09 10.25 15.553.3 1169 5.1 0.92 1.99 0.04 0.03 0.01 0.10 St. 0.79 0.89 1.5 5.3 1930.4 0.73 0.38 0.04 0.01 0.00 0.05 Dev. IL-17E Transgenic  1 2.80 10.8016.3 56.8 1113 5.2 0.69 1.91 0.03 0.02 0.01 0.14 16 3.49 10.29 15.8 54.71134 4.8 1.30 2.01 0.05 0.04 0.01 0.07 29 No Sample 52 13.32 8.81 12.545.8 977 6.3 3.25 6.61 0.17 2.12 0.04 1.13 55 16.89 7.89 12.0 36.6 27585.4 1.84 9.80 0.09 2.14 0.04 2.99 61 11.32 9.18 14.1 50.0 1102 5.2 2.666.47 0.08 0.96 0.03 1.12 66 6.19 6.24 7.8 31.7 2195 4.4 1.42 4.16 0.050.16 0.01 0.40 Mean 9.00 8.87 13.1 45.9 1547 5.2 1.86 5.16 0.08 0.910.02 0.98 SD 5.71 1.66 3.1 10.0 744 0.6 0.94 3.06 0.05 1.01 0.02 1.09

TABLE VI Summary Data for Significant Differences in Organ Weights andCBC Values between IL-17E Transgenic Mice and Non- Transgenic mice HEAGPTransgenic Non- Mice (n = 4 or Transgenic p value (t 5*) Mice (n = 5)Test) Spleen Weight 1.08 ± 0.27 0.37 ± 0.12 0.0007 as % Body SD* SDWeight Total 11.93 × 10³ ± 3.09 × 10³ ± 0.79 × 10³ 0.003 Leukocytes 4.47× 10³ SD (WBCs) SD Neutrophils 2.29 × 10³ ± 0.92 × 10³ ± 0.53 × 10³0.032 0.67 × 10³ SD SD Lymphocytes 6.76 × 10³ ± 1.99 × 10³ ± 0.38 × 10³0.0025 2.32 × 10³ SD vs SD Eosinophils 1.99 × 10³ ± 0.03 × 10³ ± 0.01 ×10³ 0.017 0.38 × 10³ SD SD Large 1.41 × 10³ ± 0.10 × 10³ ± 0.05 × 10³0.031 Unstained 1.11 × 10³ SD Cells (LUC - SD Possibly Large GranularLymphocytes)F. Histopathologic Findings

Hematoxylin and eosin stained sections of liver, spleen, lung, brain,heart, kidney, adrenal, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, cecum,colon, mesenteric lymph node, skin, mammary gland, trachea, esophagus,thyroid, parathyroid, salivary gland, urinary bladder, ovary or testis,uterus or seminal vesicle, skeletal muscle, bone, and bone marrow wereexamined from seven IL-17E transgenic mice and five non-transgeniccontrol littermates. B220 (specific for all B cells) and F4/80 (specificfor macrophages) immunostained sections of lymph node and spleen werealso examined from all mice. Five of the IL-17E transgenic mice (nos.29, 52, 55, 61 and 66) had similar histologic findings characterized bymarked mesenteric lymphadenopathy, splenic lymphoid hyperplasia and redpulp eosinophilic myeloid hyperplasia, and bone marrow eosinophilichyperplasia. The most striking histologic finding was the mesentericlymphadenopathy, which was characterized by massive nodal enlargementwith loss of normal nodal architecture and medullary expansion by amixed population of inflammatory cells containing a large number ofeosinophils, reactive B cells (stained with B220) and plasma cells,macrophages (stained with F4/80) and multinucleated inflammatory giantcells (See FIG. 10). These five IL-17E transgenic mice also exhibitedmarked bone marrow eosinophilic myeloid hyperplasia (FIG. 11B) as wellas moderate to marked splenic B cell lymphoid hyperplasia and red pulpeosinophilic myeloid hyperplasia (FIG. 11F). In addition, one of theIL-17E transgenic mice (no. 29) also exhibited marked, chroniceosinophilic and suppurative pyelonephritis with renal pelvic dilationin one kidney and moderate chronic eosinophilic and suppurative pyelitisin the other kidney (FIG. 11J), while another IL-17E transgenic mouse(no. 55) exhibited severe, chronic eosinophilic and suppurative urinarycystitis with mild bilateral chronic eosinophilic and suppurativepyelitis. Lastly, four of the IL-17E transgenic mice (nos. 29, 55, 61and 66) exhibited minimal to mild eosinophilic and lymphoplasmacyticcolitis and/or ileitis.

G. Summary of Phenotypic Findings in Transgenic Mice OverexpressingHuman IL-17E Polypeptide

Five of the IL-17E overexpressing transgenic mice (nos. 29, 52, 55, 61and 66) had a similar phenotype, characterized by a leukocytosis withmarked elevations in eosinophils, lymphocytes, and large unstained cellswhich may be large granular lymphocytes, a marked lymphadenopathy with amarked eosinophilic component, bone marrow eosinophilic myeloidhyperplasia, and splenic B cell lymphoid hyperplasia and eosinophilicmyeloid hyperplasia. Two of the IL-17E transgenic mice (nos. 55 and 66)also exhibited mild anemia and thrombocytosis. In addition, IL-17Etransgenic mice nos. 55 and 29, exhibited eosinophilic and superlativeinflammation of their kidneys and/or urinary bladder. Lastly, four ofthe IL-17E ovewrexpressing transgenic mice (nos. 29, 55, 61 and 66) hadminimal to mild eosinophilic and lymphoplasmacytic colitis and/orileitis. All of these findings suggest that the IL-17E polypeptide playsa role in inflammation and myelopoiesis, particularly in thedevelopment, stimulation, and/or recruitment of eosinophils and Blymphocytes, and that the IL-17 receptor like polypeptides of thepresent invention, which bind to IL-17E, mediate this inflammation andmyelopoiesis.

EXAMPLE 13 Transgenic Phenotype of IL-17E Overexpressing Mice

Phenotype analysis was performed on 10 transgenic mice and 5non-transgenic littermates. A femur, peripheral blood (obtained bycardiac puncture) and a longitudinal half section of spleen wereobtained from each transgenic mouse and their littermate control. Fiveof the trangenic mice analyzed (nos. 29, 52, 55, 61 and 66) exhibitedphenotypic changes.

To analyze the phenotype of the transgenic mice, the major hematopoieticpopulations including activated T cells were quantitated. In addition,the tissue and lineage specific expression of IL-17 receptor likepolypeptides of the present invention (IL-17RB), was quantitated asdescribed in Antonysomy et al. (J. Immunol., 162: 577-584, 1999) and asalso described in Example 7 herein.

The following antibody panel was designed to make the above-identifiedmeasurements with fluorescent activated cell sorting (FACS). Helper Tcells were detected with the antibody CD4-PE and were compared to anearly activation marker detected by the antibody CD69-FITC. A pan T cellmarker detected with antibody CD3-FITC was compared to killer T cellsdetected with the antibody CD8-PE. Monocyte lineage cells detected withthe antibody CD14-FITC was compared to B lineage cells (preB to maturesurface immunoglobulin positive B cell) marker detected with theantibody CD19-PE. Granulocytes detected with the antibody GR-1-FITC werecompared to natural killer cells detected with the antibody NK1.1-PE.The expression pattern of the IL-17 receptor like polypeptides (IL17RB),detected by binding of recombinant IL-17E-Fc fusion protein, wascompared to B cells detected with the antibody CD45R-PE, to Helper Tcells detected with the antibody CD4-PE, and to dendritic cells detectedwith the antibody CD11C-PE.

The transgenic mice and non-transgenic littermates were sacrificed andthe femurs and spleens were dissected. Cell suspension from the femoralbone marrow and the spleen were made, washed twice and resuspended inPBS/0.5% BSA. The cell number of each cell suspension was quantitatedwith a Coulter Z1 Coulter Counter using a 100 μm aperture and a lowerthreshold setting of 4 μm. A 10 μl alloquot of each cell suspension wasadded to 10 ml of Isoton buffer containing 3 drops of Zapoglobin (tolyse the red blood cells) and counted. The cell suspensions wereincubated with Fc-block (CD 16/32) for 15 minutes at 4° C. Subsequently,1×10⁶ cells (suspended in PBS/0.5% BSA) were added to eachantibody-containing well on a 96 well plate.

In addition, peripheral blood samples from the transgenic mice andnon-transgenic littermates were obtained by cardiac puncture and CBCanalysis was performed. Subsequently, the remaining blood was dividedequally among 8 wells containing the antibodies on a 96 well plate.

The cell suspensions and blood samples were incubated in the presence ofthe antibodies for 30 minutes at room temperature. Subsequently, thecells were washed twice and lysed with FACS lysing buffer (200 μl/well;Becton Dickinson) for 15 minutes at room temperature in order toeliminate the red blood cells. After lysing, the cells were washed andresuspended in 400 μl of FACS buffer and analyzed by flow cytometry.

In the 5 transgenic mice which exhibited a phenotype (nos. 29, 52, 55,61 and 66), there was a striking increase in CD19+ cells (B cells) inthe peripheral blood. As shown in FIG. 12, the absolute number of CD19+cells was increased up to 5 fold compared to controls. In addition,there was a 2-4 fold increase in absolute number of CD19+ cells in thespleen as shown in FIG. 13. In the femoral bone marrow, there was aslight decrease in CD19+ cells (FIG. 14). Staining for CD45r followed asimilar trend. The peripheral blood and spleens isolated from thetransgenic mice also exhibited a 2-3 fold increase in the absolutenumber of helper T cells (CD4+ T lymphocytes). (See FIGS. 15 and 16;respectively)

The transgenic mice had a consistent appearance of a large population ofcells (e.g., 33% granulocytes) bearing light scatter properties similarto those of eosinophils (FIGS. 17 and 18). In addition, the cells do notexpress the granulocytic marker. There was also a consistant appearanceof a smaller but distinct population of granulocyte like cells (e.g.,8-17% of granulocytes) that express the IL-17 receptor like polypeptidesin blood and bone marrow. (See FIGS. 19 and 20). Based on correlationswith scatter plots, the transgenic mice seem to have the followingmulti-lineage phenotype: CD4+, CD45R+, CD11c+, and are large andgranular.

This analysis indicated that within the transgenic mice there was aclear emergence of an eosinophil-like population in the femoral bonemarrow and peripheral blood. As shown in FIG. 21, the scatter profile ofthese cells closely resembles a “text-book” example of the forward vs.side scatter (size vs. granularity) properties of eosinophils.

There was also an important increase in the absolute number (andcompartmental percentage) of circulating and splenic CD19+ B cells.Although the CD19+ lymphocytes were not positive for the activationmarker CD69+, their increase in absolute number in the periphery andslight decrease in the bone marrow is suggestive of migration toperipheral tissues where proliferation is taking place.

The appearance of a multi-lineage phenotype in blood and bone marrow issuggestive of a lymphoma like phenotype. Furthermore, since the IL-17receptor like polypeptides (SEQ ID NOS: 2 and 5) seems to be upregulatedon these cells, it is suggestive that this population may be reactive tothe omnipresence of IL-17 like protein. Together with the fact thatthere is clear eosinophilia in these mice, the multi-lineage phenotypeclosely fits the description of an acute myelomonocytic leukemia (M4AML) (Campena & Behm, J. Immunol. Meth. 234:59-75, 2000).

EXAMPLE 14 Northern Blot Analysis of IL-17 Receptor Like RNA

Northern blot analysis was carried out to determine which cell linesexpressed the IL-17 receptor like RNA. Total RNA was isolated form 17cell lines using the RNeasy Mini Kit (cat. No. 74104, Qiagen, Valencia,Calif.). The probe was generated by PCR using the following primers(primer 2445-34: CATTTTCCTACATCGGCTTCCCTG; SEQ ID NO: 26; and primer2429-61 TGAATCTGGCTTCTTTCACTGC; SEQ ID NO: 27). The probe was labeledwith ³²P-dCTP (cat. No. AA0005; Amersham Pharmacia Biotech) usingRediprime II Kit (cat. No. RPN 1633; Amersham Pharmacia Biotech). TheNorthern Blot analysis was performed with the Northern Max-Gly Kit (catno. 1946, Ambion).

The following human, mouse and rabbit cell lines were tested and thelevel of expression of IL-17 receptor like RNA is indicated.

Level of Expression Human Cell Lines: GM3104A (B-lymphoblast cell) +++CCRF-SB (B-lymphoblast cell) +++ CESS (Lymphoma) + THP-1 (Acutemonocytic leukemia) +/− DAMI (Megakaryocytes) +/− H-9 (T-cell lymphoma)− CCRF CEM (T-lymphoblast cell) − MOLT 4 (T-cell lymphocytes) − Hs 67(Thymus, normal) − Jurkat E6-1 (T-cell leukemia) − J 45.01 (T-cellleukemia) − BW5147.3 (T-cell lymphoma) − CCRF HSB2 (T-lymphoblast cell)− AML 193(s) (Acute monocytic leukemia) − Animal cell lines: HIG - 82(Rabbit synoviocyte) − C 1498 (Mouse lymphoma) − A 20 (Mouse B celllymphoma) −

1. A method for identifying a modulator of IL-17 receptor-likepolypeptide activity comprising: (a) exposing a cell to a test compound,wherein the cell is transformed or transfected with a polynucleotidesequence encoding a polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequenceselected from the group consisting of: (1) an amino acid sequence thatis at least 95 percent identical to amino acids 14 through 350 of SEQ IDNO: 5, wherein the polypeptide binds IL-17E; (2) amino acids 1 through560 of SEQ ID NO: 5; (3) amino acids 1 through 350 of SEQ ID NO: 5; (4)amino acids 14 through 350 of SEQ ID NO: 5; (5) the amino acid sequenceencoded by the nucleotide sequence comprising nucleotides 50 through1729 of SEQ ID NO: 4; (6) the amino acid sequence encoded by thenucleotide sequence comprising nucleotides 50 through 1099 of SEQ ID NO:4; and (7) the amino acid sequence encoded by the nucleotide sequencecomprising nucleotides 89 through 1099 of SEQ ID NO: 4; b) detectingIL-17 receptor-like polypeptide activity in said cell by measuringinduction of expression of TNF-α, IL-1 α, or IL-6, and (c) comparingsaid activity of IL-17 receptor-like polypeptide in the presence andabsence of the test compound, wherein an increase in said IL-17receptor-like polypeptide activity indicates the candidate modulator isa stimulator of IL-17 receptor-like polypeptide and wherein a decreasein said IL-17 receptor-like polypeptide activity indicates the testcompound is an inhibitor of IL-17 receptor-like polypeptide activity. 2.The method of claim 1 wherein the modulator is an inhibitor of IL-17receptor-like polypeptide like activity.
 3. The method of claim 1wherein the modulator is a stimulator of IL-17 receptor-like polypeptideactivity.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the IL- 17 receptor-likepolypeptide activity is IL-17E binding.
 5. The method of claim 1 whereinthe IL-17 receptor-like polypeptide activity is induction ofmyelopoiesis.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the detection stepcomprises detecting binding of said IL-17 receptor-like polypeptide toIL-17E ligand in the presence and absence of a test compound.
 7. Themethod of claim 6 wherein said IL-17E ligand comprises the matureprotein amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 23. 8. A method of identifyinga compound which binds to an IL-17 receptor-like polypeptide comprising:(a) contacting the IL- 17 receptor-like polypeptide with a compound,wherein the polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence selected fromthe group consisting of (1) an amino acid sequence that is at least 95percent identical to amino acids 14 through 350 of SEQ ID NO: 5, whereinthe polypeptide binds IL-17E; (2) amino acids 1 through 560 of SEQ IDNO: 5; (3) amino acids 1 through 350 of SEQ ID NO: 5; (4) amino acids 14through 350 of SEQ ID NO: 5; (5) the amino acid sequence encoded by thenucleotide sequence comprising nucleotides 50 through 1729 of SEQ ID NO:4; (6) the amino acid sequence encoded by the nucleotide sequencecomprising nucleotides 50 through 1099 of SEQ ID NO: 4; and (7) theamino acid sequence encoded by the nucleotide sequence comprisingnucleotides 89 through 1099 of SEQ ID NO: 4; and (b) determining whetherthe compound binds to the polypeptide.
 9. A method of treatinginflammation induced by IL-17E or a IL-17 receptor-like polypeptide ofSEQ ID NO: 5 in a patient in need thereof, comprising administering tothe patient an antibody that specifically binds to a IL-17 receptor-likepolypeptide consisting of an amino acid sequence selected from the groupconsisting of: (a) amino acids 1 through 560 of SEQ ID NO: 5; (b) aminoacids 1 through 350 of SEQ ID NO: 5; (c) amino acids 14 through 350 ofSEQ ID NO: 5; (d) the amino acid sequence encoded by the nucleotidesequence of nucleotides 50 through 1729 of SEQ ID NO: 4; (e) the aminoacid sequence encoded by the nucleotide sequence of nucleotides 50through 1099 of SEQ ID NO: 4; and (f) the amino acid sequence encoded bythe nucleotide sequence of nucleotides 89 through 1099 of SEQ ID NO: 4.